New Dawn
by OffMyLeash
Summary: Life for the group after the end of the game. ...Changes, laughter, love, pain, publicity, bonding, confessions, fun, parties, heartbreak, crying, and more! Just like every new dawn, the group goes through something new everyday.
1. Routine

**A/n:** _Okay, first things first this story is written for and dedicated to IcedBlaze (who know goes under a new name for the time being) not only b/c of her story 'Nuisances', which inspired me to try my hand at Humor/Parody, but also b/c of the ideas she and I have tossed bk n forth w/ each other (which means that **yes** there may be a point where we **both** use the **same idea** in our story b/c we **both** liked it...though I'll try and keep this to a minimum)._

___To those of my readers **enjoying** 'Day to Day' (b/c that's what I was going for in the first place) I **sincerely** apologize to you. but! I plan on making it up to you with this **REWRITTEN** version of D.2.D. which is now titled 'New Dawn'_

___And, last but not least, all **thxs** to this story goes to Ice b/c w/o her words (aka. pep talk) this story wouldn't even be up. Thxs Ice...I really mean it ^_^ Enjoy everyone._

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Chapter 1: Routine

_**Beep! Beep!** Beep! Beep! Beep! Bee—_

The sound of the alarm clock was cut short as Lightning's fist collided with the top of the device. She put so much power within the hit that she ended up breaking the clock; truthfully, that was no surprise since she went through at least a dozen within the span of two months.

_Pulse and Cocoon Fal'Cie I hate that annoying sound,_ she thought groggily before releasing a groan and rolling over onto her side to get five more minutes of sleep.

Those five minutes came and went all too quickly for the soldier before she _had_ to get out of bed if she wanted to be on time to report in; and, by 'on time' in military meant _early_ by at least an hour. For Lightning, being such the dedicated Sergeant she was, it meant being there _two_ hours early.

She flung the covers from her form before pulling herself from the warmth her bed provided. She grabbed one of her numerous uniforms from the closet, the items for her bath, and then exited her room and headed towards the bathroom. It was always unoccupied at this hour of the morning, though there were those rare mornings when it was occupied.

Fal'Cie help them if they weren't Serah.

Luckily, it was empty this morning. Lightning entered into the bathroom and kicked the door closed behind her, quickly turning to lock it. Placing her towel and bathing items on the closed toilet lid, the rose haired female then reached into the tub and turned on the water; she turned on the knob that activated the showerhead.

As the water ran, she stripped out of pajamas, giving the water a chance to warm up before she stepped in. Placing her discarded clothes into the hamper; then, grabbing her face towel and shampoo she stepped into the tub.

She released a heavy—pleased—sigh as warm, boarder line hot, water rained down upon her skin. Stepping closer allowed the droplets to maneuver through her strawberry blonde locks. For a few moments, Lightning simply stood there—eyes closed as water gushed down her face.

She wasn't thinking; not about Pulse becoming her and her family's new home, not about the military being in chaos because well over half its ranks had been lost and needed to be filled, not about the house they were staying in that was _falling apart_ and _way _too crowded, not about how her paycheck was _barely_ enough to pay bills and provide the household with food since she was the _only_ one working.

Nope, none of that was on her mind…she was simply existing in that moment.

Eventually, the BlazeFire owner began to move around—washing her body before moving on the shampoo and condition her hair; all in all, her routine took 10 minutes. In her line of work, being able to do tasks efficiently _and_ quickly was a skill that only a _few_ had; either a person learned how to do both through their training period or it would take _years _before you started to move up the ranks.

Once she was finished, she turned off the shower and exited the tub. She grabbed her smaller towel and used it to dry her hair, wrapping it around her head when she was finished; the larger towel she grabbed and used it to dry off her body.

Finished with the towel she also tossed it into the hamper before going about getting dressed in her usual military attire; the only thing she was missing was the half cape that clipped on to her left shoulder, beneath the green metal plate that showed off her rank, and danced behind her person. After her clothes were on the final thing she did was brush her teeth.

Lightning then exited the bathroom, not before removing the towel wrapped around her head and placing it in the hamper as well, and headed towards her room.

As she stood before her dresser mirror, having used it when she was attaching her ruby cape to the green plate on her shoulder even though she could have done the task blindfolded; it was something that she had been doing for years that had practically become second nature to her.

Azul eyes bored deeply and intently into their reflection.

Without warning, her breathing had sped up. Her heart rate had spiked, vision began to blur, breath now erratic than moment prior, head slowly beginning to spin, and a light sheen of sweat covered her body. Leaning over, she placed one hand on her dresser while the other one went to latch on—clutch—on the side of the mirror.

The Guardian Corps soldier stayed like this for five minutes before she was finally able to gain control of herself once again.

Still, throughout the whole miniature episode crystal blue eyes stayed focused on the person being reflected in the mirror; this wasn't the first time that Lightning had experienced an episode like this. And, it certainly wouldn't be the last.

The heart-face shaped woman couldn't quite place her finger on it, but ever since she had come out of crystal stasis—despite how brief it was—she had felt different; as if something about her very person was off. She ended up going through this episode accidentally a few weeks after herself, Serah, and sadly, Snow moved into the house.

She was glancing at herself in the mirror, while on her way to do something that seemed so unimportant now, when she caught sight of her eyes and froze; hey eyes seemed to hypnotize her as if she had _never_ seem them before with how intently she was staring at herself. As she remained locked in her gaze, she suddenly felt a chill creeping up her spine—the same kind a person gets when they bend down to pick up something and they stand up straight and there's another reflection in the mirror.

That's how she felt then; even though she was looking at herself, if felt like she was staring at an entirely different person—a stranger. It's the same way she feels now, though now her episodes don't leave her visibly trembling anymore. Yet, she doesn't understand the _why_ behind it.

Before she can get started on a road that she's traveled up and down numerous times within these past few months, she shakes her head; thus breaking contact with her reflection.

"Get yourself together soldier," Lightning muttered to herself as she stood up straight. She looked herself over in the mirror, but made sure not to make eye contact with…well, herself.

Satisfied with how she looked she proceeded out her door and down the hall. "Focus…hehe, there's a word I probably shouldn't be using much," she whispered to herself, giving a low, sultry chuckle.

Making it to the end of the hall Lightning then turned left and entered into the living room. She paused for a brief moment to take in the couch's occupant; Hope was looking like a drown victim, with one arm tossed over the back of the couch while one leg hung freely from it. His cover littered the floor along with candy wrappers and a few drink cans.

The television was still on, though thankfully someone had muted the volume. There was a large: PAUSE in the center of the screen, and looking on the floor in front of the television Lightning was able to confirm that his game console was still on; while she didn't see the controller the fighter knew that it wasn't far from the adolescent.

_What the hell does he see in…what does he have? A Wii?...PS3?...360?...Gameboy Color? Ah, to hell with it,_ she conceded mentally. As she opened the front door and began stepping out of it. _What he sees in those videogames I'll never understand._

**

* * *

**

**Lightning** entered into the new Guardian Corps Headquarters; debt was still going on within the higher ranks and those providing funding for the Corps as to whether or not this was to be their permanent location.

She walked through the sliding doors and headed towards her commander's desk. The warrior was eager to know if there was a matter than needed her attention; the Sergeant always felt the need to strike out at something after one of her episodes and what better way to go about it than legally and bring home a check for her efforts?

As she traveled down the hall, the sound of her boots echoing off the walls, she took notice as to how lacking in personnel HQ was—at least, within the office areas. While she did arrive early, there was always _some_ form of traffic from her coworkers going on.

_Is there a meeting going on that I don't know about?_ She wondered to herself, as she rounded the corner and approached her commander's office. Surely, she would have been notified if there was a meeting, right?

The fighter stopped before the door and knocked. Her arm had barely had a chance to fall before a "Come in" was uttered; she opened the door and quickly entered.

"Sir," Lightning greeted, bowing from the waist as she greeted him.

"Well, Sergeant Farron isn't this a surprise," Lieutenant Amodar remarked as he was met with his most hard working and stubborn subordinate.

Lightning stood up straight. Her eyebrows knitted together slightly but she portrayed no more reactions other than that small one. "Surprise? …But sir, I'm always here early," she pointed out. Curious as to why he was surprised to see her.

The taller of the two laughed. "Of that I am aware Sergeant," he countered lightly. "It's just that I'm not used to seeing you a day early for your shift." He added as he leaned back in his chair.

Ever so slightly, delicate eyebrows rose. "A…day early sir?" she inquired, just to make sure she was hearing what she was. If she was indeed a day early then that meant…

Amodar nodded. "Yup," he confirmed as he pulled out the time sheet of all his workers and looked at it. "You're not scheduled to work until 0900 tomorrow."

He then held out the sheet so she could see for herself; she quickly covered the short distant between them and took the paper. Sapphire eyes scanned over the paper several times.

"…So, I'm off today?" she said aloud, not really looking for an answer.

Still, her superior gave her one anyway. "Indeed you are, and I'm surprised your sister even allowed you to leave the house…especially dressed like that. I mean, she was the one who had to _force_ you to take at least one day a week off," he quipped with a hearty laugh as he remembered the younger Farron sister coming up here and _demanding_ her sister took _mandatory _days off.

Lightning put the sheet back on his desk. "Well, since I'm not working…" she trailed off knowing he would provide a finish for the sentence.

"You should go back home and relax," he told her. He then got up from his seat and approached her, placing one hand on her shoulder. "Maybe I should give you tomorrow off too, since you're so over worked that you're showing up on your off day." He added with a laugh.

The soldier didn't hear his words. Instead, she was busy fuming on the inside that she had shown up to work on her day off; the _only_ day of the week that she got to _sleep in!_ Still, she knew of only one person in her house that would pull such a mean, dirty, under-handed trick.

* * *

**Back at** the Farron residence, since Lightning was the only person paying the bills, the houses other occupants were gathered around the kitchen table. While they were waiting for breakfast, they were all laughing their asses off!

"So…so…so…" Sazh tried to get out between breaths. It took him a few moments to catch his breath so that he could say what he was trying to say. "Let me get this straight…You snuck into Light's room and turned on her alarm clock?" he asked, just to make sure.

He was met with a nod from the tanned Pulsian born. "Indeed I did," Fang admitted proudly. She probably would have pointed to herself but her arms were wrapped around Vanille's waist, keeping the smaller female securely on her lap; not that the redhead planned on going anywhere.

"Not only that, but you also managed to send her into work on her _only_ day off!" Snow added, tossing his head back and laughing even harder than before. Tears were coming from his eyes with how hard he was laughing.

"Light's gonna be so mad when she gets to work and realizes that she's not supposed to be there," Vanille giggled

Hope sat across from the four with his arms folded across his chest and a frown on his face. "Well, I don't think it's funny," he remarked. He was upset because Fang had pranked his mentor and that Snow, Sazh, and Vanille all had the nerve to be laughing about the joke.

The brunette turned her gaze on him. Hope gulped at the predatory gleam in her jade eyes. "I reckon that you're 'Happy as Larry' is because you've got a crush on our 'flyer'," she stated. When Hope didn't say anything right away, Fang's grin only grew wider.

Eventually, the white haired teen settled for turning his gaze away from that of the lancer's; he was thankful that the other's were so busy laughing so hard that they had missed what she had said.

"But Fang," Serah began as she pulled out the material necessary to cook. Honestly, the younger Farron didn't know how she had been chosen as household cook. "Why did you even do that to her? What was the point?" she asked, turning around to look at the older woman.

"Light needs to get off that routine of hers. The Sheila's life could be set to a clock," Fang paused as Sazh and Snow began laughing like maniacs again. "That alarm of hers went off and she didn't even stop to think about anything else except getting ready for work. She didn't even realize that she didn't turn her clock on last night or that she was off today."

Serah was set to say more, but Fang spoke up again. "And don't worry…I'll be gentle with her I swear. On Vanille _and_ my lance," she promised, wagging her eyebrows suggestively at the younger Farron.

The pink haired female flushed red before turning her attention back to the items she had pulled out that she planned on cooking. However, the slamming of the front door halted Serah's action. They all knew who had just arrived; the sound of footfalls—angry by the sound of them—headed their way.

Lightning entered into the kitchen eyes ablazed, blue fire burning with each of them. The fire grew in intensity when she saw Snow, Sazh, and Vanille trying to stifle laughter while looking at her.

"_Fang…_" the soldier growled out.

The lancer carefully removed her lover from her lap; they all knew where this was going after all. "Ah…ya know I love it when ya say my name," Fang responded and in a flash she was up and running from the table; Light close on her heels.

"Aye, ya need to learn how to relax Shelia…you also need to learn how to take a joke," the brunette quipped, as she dodge a punch that made a dent in the wall…which only added to Lightning's fury.

_**Shatter!**_

"Claire! Not the vase! It was a collectible!" Serah yelled as she ran into the living room where the two strongest females of the house were; though that could easily change at any moment.

"I 10gil on the soldier," Sazh commented as he rose from his seat and followed behind Serah.

_Nothings funny about having me go into work on my day off! Don't run! I just wanna hurt you!_

Snow did the same, trailing after his wife to be. "And I've got 15gil on the lancer," he replied with a chuckle.

_Oi, lighten up girl…ahahah, I made a joke with your name…it was just a good natured joke. Can't ya laugh at yourself?_

_**Smash!**_

"You're gonna lose that money Snow because Lightning's gonna win!" the white haired teen stated mater-of-factly as he sat proudly in his chair.

Vanille giggled and shook her head. "Nuh-uh…my baby's gonna win," she countered, as she looked in the direction where almost everyone had gone.

_**Thump!**_

"Ah! Light! Fang! Be careful of my baby!" Hope hollered, as he heard what sounded like a controller being kicked into a wall. It was enough to have him up in a flash and running towards all the chaos.

That now left Vanille with being the only one still in the kitchen. She smiled wistfully from her seat; though their leader and her girlfriend were fighting—which happened quite often. Pulse Fal'Cie their _fights _were almost _routine!_—she was happy about it.

_Those two wouldn't be fighting if we were still crystals_, the redhead thought to herself as she slowly rose to her feet and began making her way towards the living room to watch the fight.

"Maybe we should start selling tickets to these fights?" she mused aloud to herself, seeming to seriously consider the idea. "Not only would it help Lightning pay the bills but it would also prove for some good entertainment." She added with a laugh.

_**Riiiiip!**_

_Ah! That was my favorite shirt!_

_And you've got twenty more just like it. Which reminds me the next thing we gotta work on is ya wardrobe shelia._

Vanille smiled even more broadly. Yup, she was glad that they were able to greet a new dawn…and spend every day thereafter with their new family. She couldn't think of anything better.


	2. Decided

**A/n: **_And chapter 2 has arrived folks! While it may not be too haha, funny right now, give it time. Gotta have some serious spots in here too ;) ...so that they can be made fun of later._

_Thxs goes to MuffledSnikers (aka. IcedBlaze) for agreeing to be my _**reader**_ (this means she simply reads the story and tell me how she feels about it in a few words, but can't go into _**full** _detail until the chapter is posted up). And yes, Ice...we do have that uncanny way of updating our stories on the _**exact** _same day! LOL!_

_Much love and thxs to all my readers and reviewers ^_^ Now let's get on with the chapter!_

_

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_

Chapter 2: Decided

**"Serah,"** Lightning whispered softly into her sister's ear, in an attempt to rouse the younger female from her slumber.

Slowly, an identical pair of powder blue eyes opened. "Cl-Claire," Serah muttered sleepily. She raised a hand to rub at her eyes to clear her vision.

The soldier had squatted down so that she was eye level with her sister, since the smaller of the two was lying down.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'll be in late tonight," she informed her baby sister. "So I won't be here for dinner." She added.

Shock crossed over Serah's features from the warrior's words. It had been such a _long_ time since her sister had informed her that she would be coming in late; over the years Serah had learned how to tell if her sister would be coming home late or not.

Before she could say anything, Lightning stood up—fully dressed and prepared for work—turned, and exited the shorter female's room, shutting the door behind her.

"Have a nice day at work Claire," Serah said to herself, as she turned over to go to sleep. "Be safe."

It was a sentence she always said ever since her sister joined the Guardian Corps; and, just like always her sister never stuck around long enough to hear it.

**

* * *

**

**"Lieutenant,"** Sergeant Farron addressed her superior, when she saw the husky sized male walking in her general direction. She quickly approached him.

"Sorry Farron, I've got no field work for you at the moment. Maybe later," Amodar commented with a laugh, believing this to be the reason the strawberry blonde approached him.

It wasn't the first time the gunblade wielding woman approached him and asked if there was anything going on outside the office. To say that Lightning _hated_ being cooped up in the office would be an understatement; the woman would even volunteer to train new recruits! Anything to get her out of there!

"Uhm…actually sir, that's not the reason I stopped you," Lightning informed him, as she stood before the 6 foot tall man.

The black haired man arched and eyebrow; it was clear that he wasn't expecting that from the dedicated soldier. "Not searching for field work?" he echoed almost baffled. "Well, then what's on your mind soldier?" he inquired curiously, as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned most of his weight on his left leg.

The shorter of the two took a deep breath before speaking. "I'd like to discuss something important with you commander," she stated. "In private, sir." She quickly added, knowing that he was about to question her as to what she wanted to speak about.

Amodar nodded. "Alright," he responded and began walking towards his office with his subordinate in tow beside him.

A heavy silence engulfed the pair as Lightning stood before her commander's desk while Amodar sat behind it. The mustache wearing man was sitting at the edge of his seat; his elbows were propped up on his desk and his hands were intertwined with one another as he rested them right under his nose. Both of his eyes were closed which signaled that he was deep in thought.

After a good five minutes of silence, the tanned skinned male opened his eyes; brown eyes focused on his Sergeant and Lightning, being who she was, met his gaze with her own. Eventually, the Lieutenant released a heavy sigh that he had been holding for quite some time now.

"Are you sure about this Farron?" he asked her in a serious tone. Out of everything that she had wanted to speak with him about, this scenario right here never crossed his mind.

She nodded. "Yes. I would like to resign from the Guardian Corps as soon as possible," she answered in a tone that let him know that her mind was set.

"And how soon would you like that to be?"

"Today if it's possible sir," the blue eyed woman said without hesitating.

Amodar sat back in his seat, running a hand through his short hair; this was the second time she had said it and still he had trouble wrapping his mind around her words.

"Why do you want to resign anyway Farron?" he practically beseeched to know. He had worked with the fighter long enough to know that every action that she did had a damned good reason behind it.

So, her wanting to take herself out of Guardian Corps meant that she had a very good reason, right?

"Personal issues sir," Lightning responded. "But beyond that I'd rather not say."

Another sigh escaped the older man. "Alright Farron, fair enough," he conceded having learned that if she didn't willing give up the information, she wouldn't be poked and prodded into giving away the information either.

"It'll be a pain, but I'll be able to resign to you today…more than likely by the end of your shift," Amodar spoke as he rose from his seat and walked around the desk towards her. "And don't worry you'll be receiving all of your benefits as well," he informed her.

"B-but sir—" the former l'Cie began to protest but she was cut off.

He touched her forehead with his index finger. "Farron, after everything you and your friends did for the citizens of Cocoon, you've earned to have your benefits whether you resign or if you're fired. And truthfully, you deserve more than that," he pointed out to the sapphire eyed woman.

Suddenly, Lightning bowed. "Thank you sir," she said.

The taller of the two waved her off. "Don't thank me Farron. If anything, I should be thanking you and your friends for saving our asses back when Coccon went to hell and back," he pointed out.

Not knowing what to say to that, Lightning rose to her full height and headed for the door. She paused when Amodar began speaking.

"It's been a pleasure working with you and being your superior Farron. Take care of yourself kid," he remarked before she exited his office.

_

* * *

**Where is she,**_ Serah wondered as she sat on the couch in the living room awaiting her sister's arrival.

It had been such a long time since Serah had sat up waiting for her sister to come home; that last time she did such a thing she was 12 and Claire was 15. The only reason she had stopped staying up and waiting on her sister was because the elder female put up such a strong fuss about it—considering that some days Claire arrived home at 7 in the morning and school started at 8.

Funny how easily Serah was able to get back into the habit of waiting up for her sister.

The pink haired female was the only one awake in the house; the others had gone to bed some time ago. Well, with the exception of Sazh and Hope who had both gone to their own homes for the night since they didn't live there. But, they would both be back bright and early tomorrow.

"Serah?" the redhead called in a surprised tone.

Her attention was drawn away from watching the front door, to the woman standing in the entranceway.

"Vanille, what are you doing up? I thought you went to bed a few hours ago," the younger female commented, surprised that she wasn't the only one awake as she had assumed.

The native born Pulsian raised a hand to cover a yawn before she spoke. "I was. I was thirsty so I came and got something to drink," she replied. Then she held up her other hand which had a bottle of water in it.

"I saw the light in here on from the kitchen so I thought someone had left it on, so I was going to turn it off, only to find you sitting in here," the rod wielding teenager explained, even though she hadn't been asked to.

A few moment of silence passed between the two. "So, what are you doing up?" Vanille inquired, breaking the silence, and sounding a little more like her peppy self.

"I'm waiting on my sister," Serah answered as she turned her attention back to the door which had yet to open, signaling Lightning's return.

Suddenly, the taller adolescent felt a weight on the couch. Looking to her right she noticed that Vanille had plopped down a few inches away from her.

"So, you're waiting up all by yourself?" the jade eyed girl questioned curiously. She was met with a nod from Serah. "Well, that's no fun. Tell ya what, I'll stay and keep you company if ya don't mind?" she suggested with a grin, now wide awake prior to the moments before.

The engaged female smiled at her friend. She was set to politely turn the smaller female down, but the look on Vanille's face caused her to reconsider.

"No, I don't mind at all. I could use the company," Serah remarked with a laugh, causing the couch's other occupant to laugh as well.

The youngest two females of the household made small talk with one another; their conversations consisted of random things. Serah had to admit, that it was nice having someone to talk to while waiting on her sister to come home as opposed to sitting in silence or watching infomercials on television.

"Hey Serah?" Vanille called to gain the pink haired teens attention. When blue eyes landed on her she continued. "Why are you waiting up for your sister anyway? I don't think I've seen you do it before," she clarified as to why she posed the question in the first place.

The younger Farron blushed slightly and looked rather sheepish. "Well, I'll admit, I haven't waited up for Claire for a couple years now," she admitted. "And now that I think about it that saddens me."

The pigtail wearing teen knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. "Why would it sadden you?" she inquired.

Now Serah had her head down, almost as if she was ashamed of herself. "Because…I used to wait up for her every night," she began.

A few slightly tense moments passed before she spoke again. "…Claire's line of work can be dangerous. I was afraid that if I went to sleep, while I was sleeping…she'd end up getting severely injured, or killed. That death would take the only _blood_ family I have left," she confessed. Her voice was thick with emotions as she verbalized her fear for the first time in her life.

The other girl said nothing. Instead, Vanille closed the small distance between them and embraced Serah, pulling the emotional girl into her. The moment Serah's head met her shoulder the sapphire eyed girl began to slowly cry.

"I'm sorry Serah, I didn't mean to upset you with my question," the redhead apologized, nibbling her bottom lip lightly, as she held her friend.

The crying girl shook her head. She then pulled back a bit to look at Vanille. "It's not your fault. I think I've always needed to vocalize my reasons…but no one was there to listen," she countered.

The native Pulsian smiled. "Glad I could inadvertently be of help," she joked with a chuckle even though underneath she was serious. She was glad to see Serah smile back.

"And just between you and I, I don't think even death could keep Lightning from coming home, even if it's only home to you," Vanille stated sincerely.

"Thanks Vanille," Serah praised her fellow housemate. She felt much better after she got that fear off her chest.

They talked a little more after that. However, half an hour later they both ended up falling asleep curled up on the couch; if they had just managed to keep their eyes open another ten minutes, they would have been greeted to the sight of Lightning walking through, and closing, the door.

The former Sergeant froze in her tracks as she took in the sight before her. Both Vanille and Serah cuddled up to one another on the couch.

A wistful sigh escaped her lips as she ran a hand through her hair. "It's been a long time since I've been greeted to the sight of Serah asleep on the couch," she said to no one in particular as she approached the dozing girls.

"I bet you were waiting for me to get home weren't you?" she asked Serah, but as expected she received no response from her dreaming sister.

Suddenly, Lightning heard footsteps. Turning her head in the direction of the sound she was met with the other Pulsian that lived in her house.

"Aye, there ya are Vanille," Fang said as she entered into the living room. Just like the gunblade wielder, she too stopped in her tracks at the sight that greeted her.

"Awe, well ain't this an adorable scene," she commented before going over and standing near the soldier. "Don't ya think so Light?" she asked.

"Hmm," was the only response the owner of the house gave before she tucked one arm under her sister's knees and placed the other one behind Serah's back and lifted her from the couch; she held her snoozing sister bridal style.

The tattoo sporting woman took notice of how Lightning looked at her little sister. Such a gently look over took her features and for a brief moment, she no longer looked like the hardened soldier that she was; it was as if Lightning was anentirely _different_ person.

If the Oerban born woman hadn't witnessed such a look come across the slightly shorter woman's face, she would never have believed it. The sight truly awed Fang.

Then, all too quickly, the gentle look was replaced by a familiar stoic one that everyone knew so well.

Wisely choosing to keep her mouth shut about it, at least for now, Fang decided to do the same and gently lifted Vanille bridal style as well; although she began nuzzling her lover affectionately, which is something that Lightning didn't do. Not just because she was carrying her sister but also because it was something that Lightning _didn't_ do.

Both women began walking in silence towards the hallway to go to their respective bedrooms. When they arrived in the hall and Lightning was prepared to head to Serah's room, Fang spoke.

"She really worries about you ya know," the lancer spoke seriously, which was quite the rarity, but she could be serious if the occasion called for it.

The brunette had heard the conversation between Vanille and Serah; had learned just how much 'Little Farron' worried about her sister every time Lightning reported in for work. Fang wondered if Lightning knew just _how much_ Serah worried about the warrior, even if the girl could take care of herself for the most part.

The ex-l'Cie didn't say anything. Instead, the elder Farron looked down at the one in her arms; Serah buried her face in her sister's stomach and let out a contented sigh.

"Hey Fang," Lightning called over her shoulder as her crystal blue eyes locked onto the taller woman.

"Aye?"

A brief pause before the cape wearing woman spoke. "…You'd be able to handle things, if I wasn't here, right?" she said and Fang couldn't tell if it was a statement or a question.

A dark brown eyebrow arched. "Depends…are ya asking me? Or, are ya saying that you trust me to do so?" she answered the question with two of her own.

"Tch. Well, between you and Snow…I place a bit more trust in you than him," she remarked with a chuckle.

"Cheeky girl," the lancer said. Since Lightning wasn't speaking anymore, Fang assumed that their brief conversation was over and turned and headed towards the room that she and her girlfriend shared.

"But, I'm asking you," the soldier spoke up.

The forest green eyed woman stopped. "Well, when ya put it that way…of course I'd be on _top _of things," she said with a smirk.

The strawberry blonde shook her head. "I'm gonna ignore that sexual reference," she replied as she began walking the short distance to Serah's room.

"But, I'm glad to know that I can count on you," she added before stepping completely into Serah's room, kicking the door closed behind her.

Confusion passed over Fang's face. "Count on me? …Wonder what's going on in that shelia's mind," she wondered aloud to herself.

She probably would have thought deeper on that whole little conversation just moments ago, but Vanille rubbing her head into her boobs knocked her thoughts off track.

"How's about we get ya into bed missy?" Fang suggested as she walked the last few steps to their bedroom, opened the door, and entered inside.

* * *

**Lightning** was sitting next to her sister and watching the younger woman sleep; thankfully, Serah was already in her pajamas so all she had to do was put the girl under the covers.

Absentmindedly, she ran a hand through matching hair that they inherited from their mother. As she did this, her grey colored eyes—in this lighting—stared out the window and out into the world.

Tonight was the night.

"I wish I could give you a proper goodbye," Lightning stated and it was clear that she was speaking to her sister. "But, I know that if I wake you up you'll talk me out of it and you know I've never been able to deny you anything that you wanted."

The former Sergeant then did something she hadn't done since she had taken up her new name; she leaned down and kissed her sister on the corner of her mouth. It was a habit that had developed when they were children, since Serah wasn't tall enough to reach her sister's jaw.

She then pulled back and reached into one of her various pockets and pulled something out. Holding it up in the moonlight, her eyes admired the necklace that hung from her hand; honestly, she wished that she could be there when Serah woke up and saw it.

The last time Serah had seen this necklace was when the sister's got into a really bad fight a few years ago; Serah ended up taking it off and breaking it. While at the time, Lightning pretended as if her sister's action had meant nothing, on the inside it had deeply wounded the elder Farron. Later that night, Lightning had made her way back to the room to pick up the pieces and over time had it repaired.

The fighter figured what better way to show her sister that she cared than by giving this back to her.

She gently eased the necklace into Serah's hand. As if she knew it was there, her hand tightened around it but not too much that the item would break.

"I…I love you Serah," Lightning whispered into her ear, struggling to say the words even though the younger teen was asleep. "Please don't be too mad at me," she pleaded for her sister's forgiveness as she rose from the sleeping girl's bed and exited the room.

"Claire," Serah muttered in her sleep as she rolled over onto her side. None the wiser of what had just transpired merely seconds ago.


	3. Gone

**A/n: **_Another "serious" chapter with a splash of humor thrown in ^_^. Thxs everyone for your reviews, you guys really motivate me. Oh! And this is something I've forgotten to mention in the previous chapters I **DO NOT OWN FFXIII! **Square Enix does. That's all ;)_

_BTW, '**Kiss Me'** by Sixpence None the Richer_

_**'When a Man Loves a Woman' **by Percy Sledge ...you'll understand this once you've read the chapter lol_

* * *

Chapter 3: Gone

**Serah** groaned as she regained consciousness; returning from the land of fantasy and back to the land of reality. She wasn't at all surprised to find herself waking up in her own bed. Without her mind even being fully cleared of sleep she knew who was responsible for the act.

"I really wish I could have been awake when she got home," Serah said aloud to herself with a slight pout. She had always had trouble staying up late even as a little kid; apparently, even at the age of nineteen, it looked like she was never going to be able to fully out grow the habit.

Sitting up, she flung her feet over the side of the bed and placed them on the floor. Her eyes looked out the window and stared at her new home of Gran Pulse within the village, though with each passing day it was becoming more and more of a town, Oerba. She then stretched her arms out over her head and arched her back, sighing contently as she felt the unused muscles move-thus removing the stiffness from them.

As she got out of bed, preparing to go about her morning routine, something fell from her bed and landed with a soft thud on the carpeted floor. Turning her cobalt colored eyes towards whatever had fallen, her eyes widened considerably from shock and surprise. She had frozen in her tracks and her breath had gotten caught in her throat.

_No...It can be,_ she thought to herself in disbelief as she blinked hard and shook her head, hoping to dispel such an illusion of a sight.

Slowly, she reached down to grab the item. Carefully, she allowed her small had to come into contact with it as if she feared touching the necklace too hard would cause the item to shatter upon contact. Once cradled safely in her hand, she raised the item up and held it in front of her face to get a better look at it—still not quite believing if it were real even though she was holding it by the chain in her hand.

As her eyes carefully scanned over the necklace, not willing to let anything escape her notice, Serah realized that this was indeed what she believed it was. "This is the necklace that Claire had gotten me when I told her that I'd be graduating from high school two years early _and_ that I was to be the Valedictorian," she whispered the origins of the necklace to herself.

Honestly, the former l'Cie _never_ thought that she would see the gift ever again; especially, considering what happened to it.

_What __**I **__did to it,_ Serah mentally berated herself.

She sat back down on her bed as she as she reflected on her actions back then. It had been so _long, _or at least that's what it felt like to her, since she had even thought about the necklace that Claire had given her; in retrospect, she saw her sister as two different _people_—more specific, two separate _personalities_.

_Lightning's_ personality was abrasive, threatening, guarded, cold, fierce, secretive, mature, uptight and more. _Claire's_ personality was boundless, entertaining, friendly, kind-hearted, shy, modest, silly, warm, and more; still, the two did share some similarities—such as being protective, determined, and trustworthy.

Over the years, Serah had noticed and learned the differences between the two people and had developed ways on how to deal with each; still as the years wore on, she saw less and less of 'Claire' which left her with only 'Lightning' to interact with. On extremely _rare_ occasions did 'Lightning' let her walls down to allow 'Claire' to slip through for brief moments.

Closing her eyes and holding the necklace up to her lips, the pink haired female released a heavy sigh. She regretted her behavior, how she reacted, and if she could she would go back to that moment in time and do so many things differently.

"Starting with practically the biggest mistake of my life," the young adult said, as she recalled when she got the necklace and what transpired a few months later.

After she had informed Claire that she would be graduating two years early and be the Valedictorian the older sibling said nothing, simply nodded her head, before turning on her heel and leaving the house; the younger Farron had been so confused...and a bit down trodden that her sister was not showing _any_ type of emotion over such good news.

The soldier had returned home just as Serah was about to turn in for the night. The taller of the two approached her and presented her with a black sack; confusion shown all over Serah's face, but she took the bag all the same.

She reached inside and pulled out a small rectangular box. Upon opening it, the high school student was surprised to find a beautiful necklace.

Her sister had explained how such good news deserved a special gift, so she had gone out and had the necklace custom made; she had said this way the necklace was unique just like its owner.

But, while the necklace had been a wonderful gift to the shorter woman, it came second to the smile Claire was sporting when she gave the gift to her sister. Seeing the older of the two actually smiling—which was still as rare back then as it was now—Serah just had to hug her; her heart practically leaped from her chest when Claire didn't attempt to break contact and even returned the hug.

A smile had made its way onto the reminiscing teen's face; it was one of the few memories of when they shared those sister boning moments and Serah kept the few that she had very close to her heart.

Yet, this walk down memory lane was not meant to be a happy one.

A few months later, it was graduation time. Serah was giving her graduation speech, necklace hanging on the outside of her robe; while she was speaking her eyes scanned the large crowd for the only person who really mattered.

Unfortunately, her sister couldn't make it; a crisis had come up that had required the Guardian Corps attention. By the time Lightning had made it to the graduation it was over...by three hours.

That night, they had argued fiercely, starting with Lightning missing her graduation then going on to everything else in Serah's life she had missed. The argument had hit its apex when Serah had ripped the necklace from her neck and threw it against a wall; smashing it into pieces before turning and running off to her room.

Even back then, she knew her action had deeply wounded Lightning, but she was so upset that she didn't care. Plus, it didn't help the situation that the older female showed no emotion on her face when her gift had been destroyed.

Sky blue eyes focused on the necklace once again. "I never did apologize for that night and Claire simply went about her usual routine the next day as if the previous night had never happened," she stated as she watched the light reflect off her long forgotten present.

"I should make things right," Serah spoke aloud to herself as she brought the necklace to her neck and fastened it there. Her attention was drawn from her necklace when she heard the front door opening.

It was either Sazh, Hope, or both entering into the house as they all had a key to the place. Though, Sazh tended to beat Hope there for the simple fact that the silver haired teen usually slept late when he was at home.

_I wonder if Sazh brought Dajh,_ she asked herself mentally as she stood from her bed and began heading towards her door; once again to go about her morning and get herself ready.

She would have to hurry, the last thing that she needed was everyone—namely Snow and Fang—awake and breakfast wasn't on the table…or, at the very least, being wrapped up. A house full of hungry, super strong/athletic, former l'Cie who still retained their magic even though their brands were long gone was not a good thing. In fact, it was downright horrifying.

When she placed a hand on the door handle she stopped and glanced down at the item hanging around her neck; a smile came across the graduates face. "When she gets home from work I'll apologize to her for what I said and what I did back then," she resolved to do—a steely determination in her eyes that was similar to her older sister's.

Yes, she was a few years late on her apology, but hey, better late than never right? …Now all she had to do was to wait for Claire to come home.

* * *

**"Okay everyone,** here's lunch," Serah announced as she entered into the den with a tray of food.

It was nothing much really, just some sandwiches, chips, cookies, and drinks. The people she was serving were _far_ from picky eaters; they would damn near devour anything put in front of them.

Lightning was probably the only picky eater in the house. She cared about the calories, carbs, and fat of every single piece of food she ate; her strict diet often lead her to being teased by Fang—the lancer pointing out that with Light's job and her workout routine that the "shelia" could pig out for months and not have any weight gain.

And such compliments, though the soldier saw them as insults, led to the two women fighting…which led to Fang mentioning Light's body athletic body; yeah, it was an endless cycle with those two.

The game they were all playing was put on hold, as the room's other six occupants practically bombarded the tray the moment Serah placed it on the table; honestly, they were like vultures on a carcass.

_Maybe I should just call it feeding time,_ the pink haired "chef" thought to herself as she took a seat on the couch. After a few seconds, the others did the same.

Snow sat near the left arm of the couch next to his fiancé'. Serah quickly changed this when she moved to sit in his lap, which the blonde was happy about as he wrapped one arm around her waist.

Since Serah was no longer sitting in the center of the couch, Dajh took up residence on the middle cushion; Sazh sat to the right of the boy, with one of his arms propped up on the right arm of the couch.

Fang and Vanille occupied the loveseat that was to the left of the couch and up a few spaces. The brunette was lying on her back, feet propped up on the arm of the loveseat, while the pigtail wearing teen lay comfortably atop her girlfriend; both their legs were intertwined together.

Since Vanille was feeding her fellow Pulsian, Fang had one arm tucked behind her head while the other rested comfortably, as well as shamelessly, on the shorter female's backside.

Hope was the only one of the group sitting on the floor; and of course, he was sitting next to his precious game system.

"So, is everyone ready for another go?" the silver haired teen inquired curiously as he munched on a cookie. He was met with nods all around. "Okay, just gimme a sec to get us another game started," he answered.

Suddenly, Vanille let out a squeal; all eyes turned to the couple. The younger Pulsian was blushing lightly and a smile adordened her face; the other Pulsian simply had a naughty smirk on her face.

The black man shook his head. "Oh please, will you two get a room?" he asked sounding both annoyed and exhasperated.

"Aye, what's the matter? …Upset because you can't join us?" the lancer challenged a wicked gleam in her jade eyes.

_You don't know the half of it,_ Sash thought to himself. "No…but there are children around her you know?" he pointed out. He hoped that bit of information would at _least_ force Fang to be more discrete, though he highly doubted that.

The tanned female allowed her eyes to travel to Dajh; if possible, her smirk became even more dirty.

_That certainly can't be good,_ both Snow and Sazh thought simultaneously.

"Oi, you're right Sazh, I should be more careful when lil kids around," Fang said, her heavily exotic accented voice filling the air; there was danger in that voice. "I should make sure to hide my hands so as to not corrupt lil kids."

Not two seconds after that sentence left her mouth did had hand quickly and expertly slip beneath the waistband of her lover's skirt; for a brief moment, her hand seemed like it was about to make its way around front.

"Fang!" Sazh hollered in a plea as he had to place a hand over Dajh's eyes. While he protected his son from the sight, the father soaked in the entire sight with his eyes.

Serah flushed a bright red, completely embarrassed and slightly uncomfortable with the situation; not because they were lesbians, but simply because of how _shameless_ Fang was. Snow sighed and shook his head before turning his attention back to the television.

"Hey Hope, how's the game coming along?" the NORA leader asked curiously.

Hope looked over his shoulder. "Yeah it's ready," he confirmed before taking in everyone's expressions. "Hey, what's going on with everybody?" he asked.

The pistol wielding male turned towards the young male teen. "Trust me kid, you don't even want to know," he responded, hand still covering Dajh's eyes.

Having had her fun, Fang removed her hand from her girlfriend's pants…for now. "It's not like he'd understand if we told him anyways," she spoke up, as a teasing grin appeared on her face.

"Uh….can we just get started on the game," Snow suggested in attempts to get things off of Fang's brazenness.

The widowed male nodded in agreement. "Yes, let's," he said as he removed his hand from his son's face.

"Okay. Fang you're first," the boomerang wielding teen commented.

"Alright!" the brunette shouted in excitement as she sat up. Vanille moved to sit upright on the loveseat as Fang got up and went and stood off to the side to the television, so that she could still see the screen but wasn't blocking the other's views.

"Hey, and lancer, be sure to hold the controller in your _other_ hand. We've all got to _share_ that thing remember," Sazh pretty much ordered the elder Pulsian.

Fang ignored him; her forest green eyes focused on the screen.

"_Kiss me out of the bearded barely. Nightly, beside the green, green grass…"_

"Oh, this game is so much fun," Vanille commented as she listened to her girlfriend sing as the words came across the screen.

Serah nodded. "I agree. This is a really good game that everyone can get into Hope," she praised the younger boy. "What did you say it was called again?"

"It's called _Karaoke Revolution,_" he answered as he watched Fang's score continually rise. _No! She's gonna beat the high score I set for this song!_

"Hey, maybe we can get Sis to play with us when she gets home from work later?" the blonde male suggested to his wife to be.

Fang had just wrapped up her song when Snow had proposed the question. "Alright! New high score of 50,000!" she yelled happily.

"No!" Hope cried out as he place his head on the floor and began to cry. _All those late nights of practicing this game only to have Fang beat my score on her very __**first **__try!_

"Oi, Sazh, I believe it's your turn mate," the point setting of the competition said as she handed the mic off to him. As the pistol wielding man rose from his spot on the couch, there came a knock from the door.

The younger Farron was prepared to go and answer it, but Snow tightened his hold on her. "I'll go get the door baby. You've been running around enough as it is," he said.

Serah smiled and kissed his cheek. She then scooted off his lap, so he could get up to go and answer the door. As he prepared to open the door he heard Sazh singing.

"_When a man loves a woman Can't keep his mind on nothing else…"_

The mammoth sized man shook his head. _Trying to show Vanille and Fang what their missing out on?_ He wondered to himself, chuckling mentally, as he opened the door.

"Hey, can I help you?" Snow asked.

"Hey. Uh…I was asked to deliver this letter directly to a Snow Villiers," a young teen, who looked to be a bit older than Hope, said as he held up and envelope with said man's name on it.

_That hand writing looks familiar,_ he thought. "I'm Snow," the bandana wearing male confirmed as he held his hand out for the letter which the unknown teen gave to him immediately.

Instead of leaving like the blue eyes male thought, the teen simply stood there.

"You know you can go now right?" Snow asked curiously.

The boy shook his head. "I was given strict instructions not to leave until you opened the letter and began to read it," the apparently nameless youth stated.

Shrugging, the 6 foot and some inches male ripped open the envelope and poured out the letter. He then opened it and began reading; as he read his expression slowly changed. Upon seeing this, the boy took that as his que to leave.

The stubble bearded man gulped visibly and loudly. _Serah is __**not**__ going to like this!_

* * *

Snow entered the den just to hear Sazh complaining about his score.

"17,062? Are you kidding me? What I sung was Platinum material!" the goatee wearing man exclaimed as he tossed the mic onto the carpeted floor.

Hope dived after it. "Hey! Careful with the hardware!" he told the black man with a frown. He turned his attention to the mic and his expression softened. "Aw, did that mean man hurt you baby? It's okay. Yes it is, yes it is."

Everyone, with the exception of Snow, stared at the boy. The blonde simply stared at his fiancé as he was faced with telling her something _extremely_ difficult.

"Maker kid, it's no wonder ya don't date," Fang stated. "Anyway, I believe its Little Farron's turn now," she changed the subject turning attention from the game addict and onto keeping the game moving.

Serah was up and in position when she noticed Snow. "Hey Snow, you're just in time to see me sing," she said to him wearing a smile. "By the way, who was at the door?" she added as an afterthought.

The trench coat wearing man shook his head. He opened his mouth and sighed deeply. Immediately, Serah and the others picked up that something was wrong.

Giving the mic back to Hope, the strawberry blonde immediately rushed over to her future husband. "Snow, what's wrong? …Who was at the door?" she questioned, eyes and voice filled with concern and an underlying worry.

"Someone who I didn't even know but, they're not important," he informed the much shorter woman as she stood before him. "What is important is this letter he gave me and it affects all of us."

The room fell silent…save for the noise the game was making as a background noise. He looked at them all before he stared down at Serah—debating on if he should say what he was about to say or not.

He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, so he closed it. After a few tense moments passed by her opened his mouth again and this time words flowed from it; though there were only a few, they caused a great impact.

"It's Lightning…" was all the NORA leader was able to get out of his mouth.

Fear immediately gripped Serah and she subconsciously gripped the necklace around her neck. She swallowed down the lump in her throat. "D-did…something happen to Claire?" she beseeched to know.

This felt like her worse nightmare coming true. She had always, always, _**always**_ feared her sister—the last of her family—being killed while at work.

Instead of saying something, since the brawler really wasn't good at words _especially_ concerning something as delicate as this, he simply held the letter out to the younger Farron. Serah quickly snatched the white sheet of paper from Snow's hand; the giant between the two didn't take offense from the action.

As Serah read, line by line, slowly her body began to tremble and her eyes began to water. Once she had finished reading it the first time, her eyes went back to the top of the page and she began to read it a second time; she made it halfway through the third go round before she finally broke down. And, Snow was there to catch her when she did.

He wrapped his massive arms around her tiny frame, at least compared to him, and held her tightly within a comforting embrace. She buried her face in his chest and cried onto his shirt—soaking through it a bit with her tears. She gripped his shirt tightly, allowing the letter to fall to the floor in the process.

"She…she's gone," the distraught female stated as she cried into her boyfriend's chest.

"Hey, Sazh…since the letter's by you, you think you can read it aloud to everyone?" Snow asked. He'd do it himself but he was busy with Serah at the moment.

Slowly, Sazh picked up the letter off the floor and began to read it aloud.

_To my family,_

_First off, this letter isn't what you think it is, though knowing Snow's inability with words and Serah's undoubted reaction it's easy to see how you thought that. I'm not dead._

_Second, if you're reading this it means I'm long gone by now. I don't know where I'm going or when I'll be back._

_I resigned from the Guardian Corps just a few days ago with all of my benefits. The money from that should be enough to take care of the house and pay the bills; there's also the saving account I have at the bank that's got some money in it as well. The access code is the date and time Serah performed in her first school play._

_All of that should be enough to take care of you all for a couple months…but once it runs out your all on your own._

_-Lightning_

Silence overtook everyone as Sazh, Hope, Vanille, and Fang took in what was just read to them; Serah's sniffling and Snow's soothing words were the only sounds. Karaoke Revolution was long forgotten.

Suddenly, Fang punched the wall leaving a rather nice sized hole. "That's what she meant," she practically snarled out causing the room's other occupants to jump slightly from her heated tone.

…_You'd be able to handle things, if I wasn't here, right?_

In an instant, the quick conversation that she and Lightning had had the other night had finally made sense. Light had _planned_ on leaving, this wasn't just some spur of the moment thing, and _needed_ to make sure someone would take care of things if she was gone.

The brunette then took off out of the den; quickly, she hauled ass to her room to grab her lance. Once she had it in her hand she was making a run for the door.

"Fang! Where are you going?" Vanille questioned her lover as she saw Fang damn near rip the door off its hinges when she opened it.

"To find _Lightning!_" came the response before she was gone out the door.

"Oh! I'll help search for her too!" the redhead cried as she chased after her girlfriend.

Hope scrambled off the ground. "H-hey, wait for me," he hollered as he went after the two women.

"Dajh, stay here with Snow and Serah. I'll go help with the search party," Sazh said as he trailed behind the trio.

By now, Serah's legs had given out, so Snow decided to sit down on the couch with the younger Farron seated across his lap. "I'm sure they'll find her. Fang's excellent with tracking," he spoke gently to her as he rubbed a hand up and down her back.

But Serah didn't hear him. Her hand gripped the necklace that was returned to her by her sister. She realized now that the gift signified more than what it used to be—a simple graduation present.

Now, it represented her sister's goodbye as well.


	4. Search Party

**A/n: **_And here's another chapter everyone! I gotta admit, I'm a bit nervous about this chapter and debated on if I should post it or simply skip ahead. To some of you this chapter might seem vague and rushed but I **swear** its not! If you can remember stuff said in past chapters it'll be clear to you (more or less, lol) and if ya don't well...**don't worry!** it will definitely make sense to ya later! ^_^_

_I also wanna thank you guys for sticking w/ the story despite its minor humor and borderline seriousness w/ these past couple chapters. In fact, some of you have even began to refer to these chapters as **prolouge **chapters, lol. Honestly, I didn't see it that way at first...but now I can ^_^! Kudos to those of you who saw it first ;) __But, I **promise** if you guys can get through **3** more "**prologue chapters"** we'll be back to where **'Day to Day' **began (which will be chapter 8)...with adjustments obviously. __**Believe me**, I'm itching to get to massive amounts of humor just like you guys are itching to read it and laugh about it...but hey! these slightly serious chapters are needed to help the plot along later ya know ^^;_

_Finally, thxs goes out to my reader **MuffledSnickers **(aka IcedBlaze) for...well, reading! XD. ...**BTW,** usual **disclaimers** apply here, lol (I'm serious)._

* * *

Chapter 4: Search Party

**"Fang!"** Vanille cried out her lover's name. The redhead panted heavily as she chased after the lancer.

The elder Pulsian's search had led them into the rapidly growing town. It had taken Fang no time to pick up Lightning's trail, but once the brunette had discovered that the soldier—well, ex-soldier was more appropriate—had headed towards the town she all but sprinted there. It took the other three that were following her pushing themselves past their limits to _barely_ keep up with the woman!

The Sari wearing woman heard her lover call out to her but she didn't stop; stopping for even a minute was enough time for a girl like Lightning to get further and further away. The lancer wasn't worried about Vanille falling behind because she had Sazh and Hope with her—not to mention _her_ girl could take care of herself.

Fang growled. "I swear, when I find that shelia I'll beat the bloody hell outta her for what she's pulled," she said to herself pushing people out of her way as she tracked her friend.

"Hey Fang, wait for us!" the pigtailed teenager called out as she maneuvered her way through the crowd and her girlfriend's hairstyle disappeared from her sight.

_I gotta admit, Fang is acting like one of those bloodhounds Lightning mentioned one day,_ Vanille thought to herself. _I wonder how Fang can tell Light's blood from everybody else's?_

By the time rod wielding female had made it to where she last saw Fang, her lover was already gone. A few seconds later Sazh and Hope joined her; the two males were extremely winded even though they had just ran from the house to the town which was 10 miles.

That was a small distance compared to all the walking/running they had done on their journey.

"Whew," Sazh panted out heavily as he bent over, hands grasping at his knees as he attempted to catch his breath. "I'm getting too old for this," he commented as Sweets flew out of his hair and started to circle the dual pistol wielding man.

Hope was in a similar position as Sazh. "But, we can't give up," he protested as his small frame heaved. "We've got to help Fang find Light." He added with determination in his eyes.

After regaining his breath the afro wearing man stood back at his full height. "Please, with the way warrior girl is running off, I seriously doubt she needs help searching for a trail," he pointed out as he straightened out his jacket.

Green eyes landed on the eldest of their group. "You're right about that one Sazh," Vanille agreed with his statement.

"Besides, if anyone is gonna need help, it's going to be me," Sazh stated quite seriously. "Trying to keep up with Fang will have my old ass in the hospital, breathing with the help of an oxygen tank."

The comment earned a giggle from the redhead who tried her best to stifle her laughter; it wasn't working too well.

The goatee wearing male then turned his attention to Vanille. "So, which direction did Fang run off to?" he inquired as he looked around.

The redhead tilted her head forward. "She went that way," she answered.

"Hmm…the only thing that way is the train station. Beyond that is simply Gran Pulse wilderness," he said but he was really musing.

Suddenly, Hope perked up. "Then what are we waiting for? Fang could have found out where Lightning's gone by now," he remarked as he ran in the direction that Vanille had pointed.

"Well come on," Vanille said as she began pushing Sazh from behind. "Let's get a move on gramps," she added with a chuckle.

"Hey!" Sazh said, slightly startled that the small girl had gotten behind him as was moving him forward with quite a bit of force.

_She's stronger than she looks,_ he remarked to himself as he began to jog at a slow pace. As he ran, he couldn't help but thinking something was off.

_I know Fang is a damn good tracker/hunter…but I can't help but feel like this is too easy,_ Sazh thought to himself.

* * *

**Piercing green eyes **stared out into the wilderness; here Fang was standing at one of the many borders of the village turning town. This one just happened to be a mile or two behind the newly built train station.

When she arrived at the station, she had asked every window clerk if they had seen a woman who matched the description she gave them; she had to cut in line to do this. One man started to bitch about how she was cutting in line and roughly grabbed her shoulder to make her move; needless to say, the lancer made the man see stars…and not in the good way either.

After that incident people backed up when they saw her approaching the clerk window.

The final clerk Fang asked had the information she needed; he had worked the previous night and had seen Lightning walking through the station. He informed the native born Pulsian that Light had continued on through the station had headed in the direction of the outskirts; he didn't see her again.

And now, here the lancer stood. Her ears then picked up unfamiliar footfalls approaching. Fang turned her head slightly to glance over her shoulder at who had approached her.

"Um…Oerba Yun Fang?" a young teenager questioned as he cautiously approached her; just the air surrounding the lancer let him know that she was not one to be trifled with.

She turned to fully face him upon hearing her name spoken in its entirety. Just from that alone she knew that this wasn't some random kid; he was obviously told to be on the lookout for her.

_By Sunshine on doubt._ "Aye," she answered as she arched an eyebrow, silently asking him what he wanted.

Thankfully, he got the silent message. He quickly whipped his backpack from his shoulders and placed it on the ground in front of him; bending down he opened it and pulled out and envelope. _Oerba Yun Fang_ was written on the front.

The nameless teen held it out to her and she took it. As she tore open the envelope to read what was inside, the rest of the search party arrived.

"There you are," Sazh breathed out as he walked up toward the accented female. He hunched over for a moment to catch his breath. "Thought we'd never catch up to you," he added.

Vanille came running past the black man and immediately latched onto her lover's waist; she nuzzled her head into Fang's shoulder which earned a smile from the taller female. It also caused Fang to wrap an arm possessively around her girlfriend's shoulders.

"Sorry for leaving ya in the dust back there," Fang apologized to _her_ girl as she hugged the younger woman closer to her form.

Hope was the last to arrive. Though he was the last to arrive, he was also the first to notice the unknown male standing. "Hey, who is this guy?" he asked, pointing to the person in question and staring intently at the young teen.

"Someone Sunshine told to be on the lookout for me obviously," the tanned female answered as the rest of the group turned to look at the unfamiliar teen. "But beyond that I really don't care."

Fang's eyes then turned to the letter in her hand. Only ten words were written down, yet despite the small number they carried such a force.

"Fang?" Vanille called worriedly as she took in the expression on her lover's face. She took her eyes from Fang's face when she heard the messenger boy rummaging around in his backpack; she gasped when he pulled out something all too familiar.

"Is that…" the redhead trailed off, hands covering her mouth.

Luckily Hope finished for her. "…Light's cape."

The guy stood at his full height, holding the cape in one hand. "She told me to tell you that she was going in that direction," he delivered the message that was given to him before he handed the cape off to Vanille since she was close to him.

Once his tasks were completed, he packed up and walked off—heading back towards the station.

The lancer came out of her thoughts when those words exited his mouth and she turned to look in the direction that he was referring to. Her trained eyes could easily pick up the noticeable broken blades of grass that symbolized that someone had walked on top of them. There were also broken branches as well.

Staring at the path that Lightning had walked as if the Maker herself had laid it out before Fang; not that the woman believed in the Maker too much if at all…but the point was clear.

"Well…now it all makes sense," Sazh commented from where he was standing, as things finally clicked within his mind.

The white haired male looked over at him confused. "What makes sense?"

Before Sazh could speak, the tattoo wearing woman beat him to it. "Lightning's giving us a choice," she responded. "More specifically, she's giving _me_ _two_ choices." She quickly amended.

"What are the choices?" Hope questioned almost anxiously. They had just been told the direction Lightning went so _why_ went they _moving_?

The brunette straightened herself and did her best to keep her body from showing the frustration of the situation.

"That I can either go after her or I can stay here." Came Fang's blunt answer, which left out a _lot_ of information.

"It's not a matter of can or can't," the boomerang wielding teenager quoted his annoying phrase. "_We go_ after Lightning."

"It's not that simple kid," both Sazh and Fang said together; there was a much bigger picture here. The pair locked eyes and an unspoken message was sent between them.

The lancer then looked at her girlfriend. "Hey Vanille," she began easily gaining the shorter female's attention. "Why don't you and Hope start heading back? …Sazh and I will catch up."

The two locked eyes and the redhead knew all she needed to know; she knew Fang would explain things later. Releasing her lover, and giving her fellow Pulsian Light's cape, Vanille bounced cheerily over to Hope and began tugging the boy away; he did put up a fight but he didn't have the strength to pry himself from her grasp.

When they two "kids" were a few feet away Sazh approached the lancer and stood by her side. Silently, Fang held up the letter for the afro sporting male to read; he nodded to acknowledge that he had read it.

"So…what are you going to do?" he asked.

* * *

**It was late when Fang returned home;** when she arrived her entire family was there to greet her. They were all awake and sitting in the living room; Serah was at the forefront of the group.

The elder Gran Pulse born approached the younger Farron and simply handed over Lightning's cape to the ex-soldier's sibling. "I know she'd want ya to have it Little Farron," the lancer said.

Shakily, Serah grasped at the material and held it to her. As she breathed in a scent that was distinctly her sister she broke down crying again.

"Claire…"

Snow was set to move towards his fiancé's side but Fang looked at him and he halted in his tracks; he and the others watched as Fang wrapped her arms around the crying Serah and comforted the girl.

As the pink haired female cried into her chest—which she made a mental note to tease about later—the words written in the letter echoed within her mind.

_You gave me your word you'd be on top of things._

_Indeed I did,_ Fang thought to herself as her top was being soaked with Serah's tears. _And I'll keep my word Lightning. …Though I'm gonna kick ya ass when I see you again._ She silently vowed.


	5. Release

**A/n: **_Okay, I'm really sorry everyone for the long wait for this chapter...it took me FOREVER to get it right! but, I promise the next chapter will be up much, much quicker (hopefully before the wkend is over ^_^). Also, the paragraphs completely in italics aren't narrating what's going on...they are more of a silent narrative to the deeper meaning of this chapter. While reading, plz look **deeper **into what you're reading to understand what I mean (kudos in advance to anyone who can ^_^). Another thing, there are a **lot** of refs in this chapter that I know everyone will catch ;), lol. Now, that I've said everything I've needed to say...get to reading EVERYBODY! ^_^_

Chapter 5: Release

_

* * *

Luminous lamented, for creation spiraled unto doom._ _Stout fashioned earth, that future might take root.__Sage turned mind's eye inward, seeking truth profound._ _Fool desired naught, and soon was made one with it. Maker forged fal'Cie, from fragments Maker's own. Maker forged Man, from traces once Divine .In time the gods departed, leaving all by their hands wrought._ _Fal'Cie were as Man forsaken, orphans of Maker absconded._

_-Author Unknown; _**The Vanished Gods I**

* * *

"_**Zanmato!"**_ an eerily calm voice said. It was completely without any type of tone whatsoever, as if whoever—rather _whatever_—was speaking was not alive at all. Or, if it were living it definitely wasn't human.

The pink haired woman watched as her attacker swung his blade perfectly out in front of his body; given the distance between them the action could have been harmless. However, the hairs standing on edge at the back of her neck, not to mention the white flash of light that emerged from the blade, made that far from so.

Cobalt eyes saw how the floor literally came towards her; the attack dug into the floor and was currently sending ancient stone, fallen pillars, and dirt towards her position—sort of like the waves in the ocean, except this one wasn't going back.

The former soldier only had mere seconds to react. For anyone else, this would have undoubtedly been the end; to the gunblade wielder…the situation was all about timing.

Lightning inhaled sharply before she quickly flipping off to the side. She didn't stop there as she landed among a fallen pillar; then, living up to her name, she was gone—and not a moment too soon.

The attack made contact the moment her foot left the fallen pillar.

Dirt filled the air, creating a choking, eye irritating, cover; it was perfect for the ex-l'Cie as if gave her the opportunity to move to another part of the ruin—which would hopefully provide her with an advantage. Lightning was _not _one to waste an opportunity.

Cautiously she made her way out of the vast room, least it was considered so at one point, the strawberry blonde was careful not to make a sound. The last thing she wanted was to draw their attention with any type of excess noise.

As she traveled long abandoned and forgotten hallway, while making sure to be on the lookout for her attackers, the only sound that was heard was of rubble still falling minutes after the attack was over.

_

* * *

And lo, the viper Lindzei bore fangs into the pristine soil of our Gran Pulse; despoiled the land and from it crafted a cocoon both ghastly and unclean. Lies spilled forth from the serpent's tongue: 'Within this shell lies paradise.' Men heard these lies and were seduced and led away. O cursed are the fools who trust a snake and turn their backs upon the bounty of Pulse's hallowed land! For those who dwell in that cocoon are not Men, but slaves of the demon Lindzei. Ye who honor Pulse: rise unto the heavens, and cast down the viper's nest!_

_-Author Unknown; _**Lindzei's Nest II**

* * *

Lightning clutched tightly onto her BlazeFire and stood in her battle stance. Her breathing was uneven—labored with every intake of air that she greedily consumed; rose colored strands stuck to her face from both sweat and blood.

While this fight hadn't been going on long, maybe even less than an three hours, one couldn't tell by looking at her. She looked like she had been fighting for _days_ and the former Sergeant believed that was putting it gently.

The events leading up to her battling for her life were completely blurred—by blood loss, adrenalin pumping through her veins, and her intense desire to remained focused. If her concentration on the fight was broken for even an instant, she _would_ be killed.

_

* * *

Two l'Cie are they, the Chosen, and from the North they hail. Endowed are they with fal'Cie Focus, to bear the burden of the Beast. My brothers and sisters of Gran Pulse: Honor the Chosen in your prayers! Let the blade forged of their will be tempered by your faith, that it might sunder that devilish cocoon's facade!_

_-A Call to Arms; _**The Chosen III**

_

* * *

This isn't an ordinary battle,_ the pale female stated to herself as she stood her ground and kept her guard up, completely on edge. Muscles tense and coiled, ready to react and spring into action at the drop of a PSI-COM soldier. _And these are no ordinary creatures…if they can be called that, even by Gran Pulse standards._

Normally icy blue eyes, were now a hardened steel color—the look they always gave off, whenever she fought. They surveyed their enemies, who were only three; yet, the power her enemies possessed contained every branch of the military…and even then it was nowhere near half her attackers' power.

_

* * *

Even Haeri, at the height of its glory, laid to ruin by a menace greater still! Surely the vipers within that floating nest look down upon us with self-righteous scorn, to see this decline of our once-great civilization. The Goddess pitied the fools who so blindly bowed to Lindzei's will, and so She robbed Ragnarok of power, putting the l'Cie to an early crystal sleep, Focus yet incomplete._

_-Sermons of the seeress Paddra Nsu-Yeul; _**The Heavenly Deceit IV**

* * *

Part of the warrior trembled in delight at such dire odds; the thrill of fighting beings more powerful than herself. The knowledge that if her reflexes weren't quick enough, if her judgment wasn't absolutely perfect, and if her attacks and counters didn't hit their marks…then these _creatures_ could easily dispose of her.

The thought of blood spilling from her enemy—their pain filled cries. Knowing that at any moment death could come and claim anyone of them, due to a brief moment of someone having the upper hand. _This_ is what Gran Pulse was all about.

Survival by any means necessary. Enjoying how the strong toyed with the weak until they delivered upon them death.

_

* * *

How long now, since the demons of Cocoon violated this land? Where once the peoples of Gran Pulse stood as one, united against a common foe, today we stand divided, at war amongst ourselves. We walk on the edge of a knife, teetering, ever but one step from our demise. How tired a species, that we must rob our own of the necessities for life lest we succumb to the fate to which we so willingly subject others! Even Haeri, at the height of its glory, laid to ruin by a menace greater still! Surely the vipers within that floating nest look down upon us with self-righteous scorn, to see this decline of our once-great civilization. _

_-Criticisms of a Pulsian People; _**The Age of Fading Glory V**

* * *

Yet, another other part of Lightning was completely against this. Not the fight itself, because if she died so did the voice within her, but moreso what this battle was stirring inside of the former l'Cie's very soul.

This battle was practically arousing the fighter, the _warrior_, within her.

The voice pled with Lightning to not enjoy what was going on; pointing out that this was one of the reasons that the pale skinned female had left home. That if she was indeed enjoying this battle then what was the purpose of the past weeks—or was it months? Light had lost count—wandering uninhibited and unexplored areas of Gran Pulse?

It _begged_ her to hold on to the small piece of herself that she had regained; to not trade it back just because of a fight. Her inner voice asked that she remain in control.

_

* * *

The fal'Cie of Hallowed Pulse offer us no salvation. Populations dwindle, and still they but make more of us l'Cie, dealing out one incomprehensible Focus after the next as they drive us toward our end. Men take up arms against their brothers now. We, who should be joining hands to survive in the face of nature's trials, turn on one another to secure what few of her blessings remain. I suspect that even the city of Paddra, this last bastion of civilization, will not long stand against the evils we now perpetrate. Human life on Gran Pulse has passed the point of no return._

_-Criticisms of a Pulsian People; _**The Age of Ruin VI**

* * *

Suddenly, one of her opponents made a move towards her. And, once again, their battle—their dance—had resumed.

Lightning cast 'Ruin' and sent it towards the flyer; for that enemy it would be easier to fight it at a distance. Up close she would be able to manage but no doubt that the creature flying limited her sword making contact with its body; she'd attempt to ground it later.

Just after she had sent off her last 'Ruin' spell did the young woman do a backflip…and not a moment too late. Had she taken the time to look behind her, she'd had an electrically charged horn sticking through her torso right now; when fighting it was simply better to trust and obey your first instincts—they were always.

_

* * *

It was the Great and Hallowed Pulse who, seeking to expand divine domain, parted the chaos and fashioned realm within; made fal'Cie, and charged them with this world's completion. The fal'Cie, anxious to please the hand that shaped them, labored devotedly at the task they had been given. They made l'Cie of men so that they, too, might be able to aid the greater cause. Men, in turn,__offered praise and prayer to Hallowed Pulse, naming their great land in honor of its architect. Yet still the architect departed._

_-On the Nature of Fal'Cie; _**Hallowed Pulse VII**

* * *

As gravity was pulling her back down to the ground, she shifted her BlazeFire to gunmode, and took aim. She was planning on putting a few bullets into that horse's back. After getting a few shots off, her feet were back on the ground.

The moment her feet hit the floor, she was ducking and dodging the rapid slashes of her "warrior" opponent—and she used the word 'warrior' loosely.

Lightning was able to dodge a few of the strikes but not all of them—getting a few cuts along her arms and even her shoulder. When she saw her opponent raise their sword and prepare to bring it down she quickly raised the broad side of her sword to block the attack.

As she struggled to hold her blade up, while the sword wielding creature added pressure to his sword, she prepared for a counter; his midsection was left open and would put some space between them.

"_**Diagoro."**_

A bark was heard and next thing the pale female knew, there was a stinging pain in her legs, and suddenly she was lying on her back. Quick to take advantage of this moment, her opponent immediately jammed his sword down—hoping to end her quickly.

At the last moment, she regained her wits and tilted her body to where the blade entered into her upper shoulder. She felt her warm blood pooling out around the wound; she bared her teeth in a grimace, refusing to scream.

_

* * *

As our fal'Cie are the children of Hallowed Pulse, so are the fal'Cie who lurk within Cocoon the brood of Lindzei. But all gods are not alike. Lindzei is cunning and false; sovereign to snakes and fiends; an anathema to be abhorred. Cocoon fal'Cie are of Fell Lindzei's line, yet that did not spare them. They were betrayed all the same; left orphans when their Succubus fled this earthly realm._

_-A Call to Arms; _**Fell Lindzei VIII**

* * *

The ex-soldier leaned against a pillar, using it to hide behind as well. Since their fight had destroyed that part of the building they had to move once again; while exiting the clooasping room Lightning was glad she managed to lose them…if only temporarily.

Focusing, she concentrated and gathered up the strength to perform a healing spell. Honestly, she didn't have enough energy to cast anything higher than a 'Cure' spell; to top it off she could only cast it once before she was completely drained magic wise.

"Well…I suppose I better make it count," Lightning murmured to herself as her hands began to glow. She then held out one hand and from it a white light appeared. It spun up the length of her arm before spinning down the length of her body.

While not that strong of a spell, it did take care of her bleeding in numerous places; stopping it in some places while slowing it in others. Not only that, but it also turned her broken ribs into fractured ones.

_

* * *

Her Providence sought nothing. Her Providence made nothing. She but looked on, silent in Her sorrow. The Goddess pitied mortals, destined as they were to die, and so She deigned to intervene in the hour of their greatest peril. She averted cataclysm that was to be, and put to rest the ones who would have__robbed so many of what time fate had ordained. Her compassion did not end at this. The Goddess pitied also those subjected to that fate of Focus, crueler still than death. To them She sent Her messengers, to deliver hope when all was lost._

_-Sermons of seers Paddra Nsu-Yeul; _**Her Providence IX**

* * *

By now, the fight had been going on for hours. These three opponents, four if you counted the footstool that was _somehow _a dog, had long ago pushed the younger fighter passed her limits; her reflexes were much slower now and she was sustaining heavy injures because of it.

Meanwhile, those who she was battling against didn't seem to have a single scratch or to be even breaking a sweat. In fact, it looked like the longer this fight continued the more energized the creatures became.

She grunted when the horse rammed into her with its shoulder; she bit her tongue when a jolt of electricity was sent through her body.

_

* * *

They say the fal'Cie made the Arks in preparation for battle against the menace that lurks beyond. Where is this "beyond" of which they speak? Do they mean Cocoon, and the demons that dwells within?__If so, they are mistaken. The legends of the Arks date far before that sphere was even crafted; whispers even hint at Arks displaced around the time of Cocoon's creation, spirited away to be hidden in its shell. What, then, is the "menace"? What distant threat confronts us, and to what purpose? The gods vanished from this place. Are they now residents of the "beyond"?_

_-On the Nature of Fal'Cie;_** The Menace Beyond X**

* * *

"They fight as if they're protecting something," she said to herself as if the full extent of their determination just dawned on her. "But what could have possibly survived in such a place? And for so long?" she wondered.

"_**Sonic Wings," **_the bird like creature screeched as it flapped it wings, sending a powerful burst of wind towards her.

The ice eyed female didn't have time to react, well she would have had she not been so drained of her energy; the attack hit her from the side. While it didn't cause any pain, as she believed it would, it did cause her body to go into a state of paralysis…which she prayed was temporary.

_

* * *

We've long held the goal of the fal'Cie's endless excavations to be the expansion of the world's inhabitable space-the creation of new lands with which to honor the gods. But I contend this to be false. Their__methods lack the order one would expect if that were their purpose, and what's more, the gods they would honor have long since departed this world. I propose a different explanation: the fal'Cie are hunting. Whether they seek a way to recall the gods or to journey to their side I cannot say, but I do believe the fal'Cie seek their lost deities. They search__he earth, the skies, the waters, and even the deep places, seeking a gateway to the Divine._

_-On the Nature of Fal'Cie; _**Hypothesis of the Hunt XI**

* * *

Seeing that their opponent was left in a position where they couldn't counter any attack and was left completely open, the powerful creatures decided that it was time to end this fight once and for all; silently, they had to admit, this was the most action that had seen in eons. The woman certainly was a worthy adversary.

"_**Thor's Hammer!" **_the horse neh'ed as he positioned himself before shooting a massive electrical beam towards Lightning, which lifted her right up into the air. Since she couldn't move, the blast hit her full force; this time, she didn't even try to contain her screams.

They got even louder, when a second pulse of energy was sent. Ironically, she was being burned from the inside out by the very element that she identified herself with…so much so that it became her new name.

Flying closer to the pink haired young adult, the birdlike creature also prepared its attack. _**"Energy Blast!" **_it screeched out. It flipped its "ponytail" from behind its back before spinning its head in a circle, causing a glowing, ring-like circle to form before it.

Then, the "bird" opened its mouth and shot a beam through the ring; since the circle was spinning it caused the beam to be scattered into multiple shots. All of which were directed at the former l'Cie.

Once again, her cries of pain filled the air.

Only one was left now. He walked slowly towards her, standing about fifty feet away. Holding a hand out to his side her summoned his long-sword from some type of portal from the ground.

Grasping it firmly in his hands he took his battle stance. _**"Zanmato!"**_came the cry as he ran towards her before doing a full 180 spin when he swing his sword—sending a familiar white blast the gunblade owner's way.

If Lightning screamed, she was completely unaware of it.

_

* * *

When our earthly vessels meet their end, the souls they housed must leave this world. Would the path of their migration not be the same one as our departed gods? Must they not pass through the same doorway the Divine employed to reach that place that lies beyond? If this is the case, it stands to reason that, should a great many lives at once be cut short, a flood of souls would surge through the aforementioned portal. The Door would be thrown wide, and perhaps we might even glimpse the gleaming light of Divinity beyond._

_-On the Nature of Fal'Cie; _**The Door of Souls XII**

* * *

The pale Farron coughed up blood when her back slammed into a stone wall, making a nice sized indention and numerous cracks on the massive slab; she had already been sent flying through several more before she finally stopped.

Her body twitched slightly as streams of pain continued to course throughout every muscle that she had; even strands of smoke floated from her body from her previous punishment. By now, her breathing was well passed erratic as her chest heaved up and down rapidly—as rapidly as it could go considering broken ribs and a pierced lung.

While it felt like she had been embedded in the wall for years, it was only moments. Slowly, Lightning could feel her body leaning forward a bit; the sensation of falling hundreds of feet downward immediately came next.

She was so drained and exhausted she didn't even attempt to save herself from such a fall, not that it would have made much difference. The former soldier also didn't bother to open her eyes as her limp body continued its free fall.

When Light opened her eyes again it was due to a painful sensation in her stomach. Focusing through the pain, blood, and tears—not to mention the powerfully strong desire to passout—she forced herself to look at anything but the injury that she had.

The BlazeFire owner could feel the warmness of her blood pooling from her final inflicted wound; it soaked what was left of her clothes and she _swore_ she could hear it running down whatever she had landed on.

As Lightning's blood trailed down whatever she was "stuck" to, markings carved into it long ago, begin to illuminate and give off a blue-ish glow; they seemed to come to life only when the blood passed over them. Not a moment before then.

With each carving that came to life, different items with the room began to glow and come to life as well; and, with each awakening, more and more of the room lit up. Showing what was hidden in shadows and what the light of the moon could not.

By the time the, amazingly enough, warm blood had reached the bottom the entire room was completely lit. Even in its ruined state it was still grand and majestic.

Suddenly, ancient cogs could be heard turning, causing the massive statues resting on either side of Lightning's grave to move. Slowly they stood, holding the illuminating pillar within their grasp, and pulled it out from the ground; even at their full height the pillar was not out of the ground.

For minutes they continued to pull the pillar up.

Yet, while all this was going on, the rose haired female was unaware. Her attention was focused on the night sky.

The Pulsian moon, which was the exact size of Cocoon itself, was the only witness to her final moments; both a blessing and a curse. For the moon would know that she had died…but it could tell no one of what it had seen, so the rest of the world—her _family_—would forever be unaware.

As her eyelids grew heavier and the beating of her heart slowed, briefly the former l'Cie wondered just how many crusades and deaths had the faceless rock seen? …How many had seen the moon as their heart beat its final tune?

She noticed none of what was happening around her. She didn't see the "living" statues, didn't feel them moving the pillar, didn't hear a click when they placed it down in the center of the room…nothing.

_

* * *

Children of Hallowed Pulse scour earth, searching substance for the Door. Those of Fell Lindzei harvest souls, combing ether for the same. So have I seen. The Door, once shut, was locked away, with despair its secret key; sacrifice, the one hope of seeing it unsealed. When the twilight of the gods at last descends upon this world, what emerges from the unseeable expanse beyond that Door will be but music, and that devoid of words: the lamentations of the Goddess Etro, as She sobs Her song of grief._

_-Author Unknown;_** Fabula Nova Crystallis XIII**

* * *

Silence filled the room and everything was at a standstill; as if everything that had just happened was a hallucination. Suddenly, the entire pillar turned a blinding white; it looked like a giant doorway due to its height, as it stood erect in the center of the room.

"Serah…guys…forgive me for not, for not being able to return…back home," she asked of them even though they were more than likely thousands of miles away and could not hear her.

And, with that final plea, Lightning took her last breath.

"_**Lindzei! Barthandelus!" **_a voice furiously snarled out before the entire room was covered in a blinding light.


	6. Pulse

**A/n:**_ First things first, this story now has 20 reviews! Whoo! I wanna thank all my reviewers, who took the time to actually drop this story a line or too. You guys are amazing and its honestly b/c of your reviews that I keep going ^_^; I also wanna thank my readers too b/c even if you dnt drop a line you still take time to check out the story as proven by my traffic page. Now...***ahem*** I gotta be honest with ya folks, this chapter might prove a bit of a shocker-which in my book is A-ok! lol Another thing, just **1** more '**prologue chapter**' to go before we're back to where 'Day to Day' started; I can't wait! XD Well? What are you waiting for? ...hurry up and read this chapter so we can keep things moving along :) lol_

* * *

Chapter 6: Pulse

**Lightning groaned **as she was brought back into the land of consciousness from the various noises filling the air.

"Ugh," she moaned, sounding like a wounded animal. She opened her eyes but quickly shut them due to the excruciating pain the sunlight caused; its golden rays were shining directly into her face.

"Pulse and Cocoon Fal'Cie," the elder Farron whispered in a weak, hoarse tone. Her throat ached at the few words she spoke. It felt like she had been gargling with bricks, as she brought up a hand to rest it on her throat column—hoping to quell the pain.

Slowly, she cracked open her crystal clear eyes. "My head," the fighter complained. The strawberry haired woman still felt a few jolts of pain shooting through her head from the sunshine.

"And for that matter, my body," she added as she attempted to sit-up. Every vein, muscle, bone, and joint protested her actions—she explained why she was failing miserably.

She heaved a defeated sigh as she gave up her attempts, which her athletic form was _extremely_ thankful for. Lightning then placed both her hands over her face, as she tried to dispel the haze her mind was in.

"It feels like I got caught in a stampede," she remarked in a low tone to no one in particular. "What the hell happened to me?"

As the aching young adult searched her memory for clues she came up empty handed. After coming up with nothing, the pale women decided to give it a rest and try again later; she was suddenly very exhausted all of a sudden.

Settling even deeper beneath the covers, she buried her head into the pillows, before shutting her eyes to get some sleep.

Suddenly, her mind cleared and gave her the information that she saw moments ago; the images rapidly played themselves out in her mind's eye. Immediately the former soldier shot up from the bed—so quickly that she ended up falling out of the bed.

The blue eyed fighter remembered her travels, the immaculate ruin, fighting creatures that were even more powerful than Fal'Cie…

"…M-my…my death…" she said in complete awe, as she said the words so softly that even she wasn't sure if she had said them.

The elder Farron then began scanning her surroundings; she was in some type of bedroom from the looks of things—which meant that she was in a house of some kind.

But how…she hadn't recalled seeing any ruined abodes. Not to mention, this one looked too well kept, from what she was seeing, to be a ruin. Plus, the fact that she had died factored largely into the situation as well.

"Am I dead, and just in a waiting room of some kind?" Lightning inquired to herself. _But I thought you couldn't feel any pain if you were dead._

So caught up was the former l'Cie in her thoughts, wondering if this was her souls final resting place, that she failed to notice the door to the room open. She also failed to notice two figures enter into the room.

"…All I'm saying is—hey! You're finally awake!" a young woman exclaimed happily, as she entered into the room with a large grin on her face.

Instantly, Lightning attention fell upon the unknown person.

The girl had a mix of golden and dark brown hair—each of the colors stood out separately. She had a flawless bronze skin complexion; the nameless female was also dressed in nothing more than a black sports bra and matching black short shorts.

The pale ex-soldier was poised to speak, uncaring if she was just seeing things or if this was a higher soul come to take her elsewhere. However, her speaking was cut before it could even begin when the next figure entered into the room as well; instantly, her eyes narrowed and her body tensed.

Subconsciously, Lightning reached for her BlazeFire which was not there

_Right, the whole 'Can't take it with you' rule_, she thought in slight irritation.

The dual haired teen seemed to notice and understand Light's sudden tenseness. "Oi, relax…he's not going to do anything. I promise," she assured the pale fighter, who was still seated on the floor.

Said nameless female held out her hand and immediately the fully mature Uridimmu—the monster in question—was at her side and nuzzling into her hand; the creature was acting like a domesticated animal instead of the ferocious fiend it was.

"Uri here has been watching over you when I'm not around," she explained. "Though that's kind of impossible since I'm always around…even if I'm not here," she added sheepishly.

A few minutes of silence passed between the trio. Lightning sat there staring at them, while the young teenager occupied her time petting the massive beast. Uri, as it was called, seemed to adore the attention.

"So," the brown eyed girl began, successfully breaking the silence. "Are you going to sit there all day or are you going to get back into bed?" she asked, turning her attention towards Lightning.

The woman in question tried to get up—more so because she was still weary of the Uridimmu less than twenty feet from her person. Unfortunately, Lightning was unsuccessful in her attempt because her arms and legs gave out; she landed on the floor with a thud and the former Sergeant let out a pained hiss.

Within an instant, the close to naked young woman was at her side. Wordlessly, she took one of Lightning's arms and slung it around her neck. Crouching down, her other hand went across the pink haired female's waist before she slowly rose to her feet, bringing the sore fighter with her.

The ex-l'Cie was set to protest—even though she did really need the help—but the other girl beat her to it.

"You might wanna be careful, ya?" she told her weakened party as she began to straighten the covers on the bed, while still securely holding the pale female's form to her own.

"It took a lot of effort to bring ya back from the dead," she remarked as she maneuvered to have Lightning sit on the bed.

The recovering woman's eyes widened and she froze, not allowing herself to be moved. She turned her head to stare directly into the light skinned teenager's face. "Y-you brought me back?" she questioned in astonishment.

The unnamed woman let out a chuckle. "I think I just told you that, ya," she countered. There was no sarcasm in her voice she was just merely stating a fact.

"B-but how? I was out in the middle of nowhere, no human life for miles around. How were you able to—" the heart shaped face woman's assault of questions were cut off by a finger covering her lips.

A light blush flared across her cheeks at such, close personal contact.

"You rest now, ask questions later no?" the slightly taller female requested, though it was really more of a statement.

All of a sudden, the pink haired female felt exhausted. Her eyes lids drooped with heaviness and she was barely able to keep her eyes open; her body grew weary and she leaned into the other body for support.

She was vaguely aware of being placed gently down on the bed and having the covers pulled over her form; the fighter also barely felt the extra weight settle down onto the bed beside her.

"When you next awaken, I will tell you everything, and answer every question you give me," the dual haired female said softly as she whispered into the barely conscious woman's ear.

Slowly, the nameless teen rose from the bed as to not disturb the snoozing woman. "Until then, dream well Claire," she commented before she and Uri exited the room.

**Switch…**

**It was many hours later **when Lightning awoke for the second time. She simply laid on her back and stared at the ceiling; she watched as the various hues on the sun danced within the room—the sun was setting.

Her head was swimming with so many questions; the largest and most repetitive one being 'How am I alive?'

Now, it was easy to bring someone back because they ended it being knocked out in battle; simply hit them with a 'Phoenix Down' or use 'Raise' and they were up and ready to go. But, death itself…as far as the former Guardian Corps soldier knew, it was _impossible_ to bring _anyone_ or _anything_ back from the dead.

"And yet, here I am…for the entire wild, untamed world that is Pulse, to see," she murmured to herself.

"You know, ya gonna bust a blood vessel in ya head from all that thinking you're doing, chicka."

Lightning turned her head to the left when she heard the voice. The nameless female was standing within the door and leaning against its frame.

"Glad to see you're awake again," the nameless female spoke as she entered further into the room. She stopped short of the gunblade wielder's bed.

The pink haired woman struggled to sit up; she didn't want to be talked down to—with her lying down and what not. From the look on her face it was clear that such a task was proving to be challenge.

"Easy," the dual haired teen said, as she moved up to Lightning's side. She then gently placed a hand on the other woman's shoulder.

"Don't strain yourself," she pointed out, as she propped the pillows up behind the bedridden fighter's back, before assisting her to sit up properly.

Once the former soldier was taken care of, the brown eyed youth then took a seat on the floor. The dual haired female didn't say anything, she simply sat there; it was clear that she was giving Lightning the chance to set the pace of the conversation and to start when she was ready.

Clear, blue eyes turned towards the girl seated on the floor. "You said that…that you brought be back from the dead," she said, though it really sounded like a question. Her throat throbbed with pain as she spoke, but she had to endure it if she wanted the answers she sought.

The pink haired fighter received a nod. "Aye," the unnamed youth confirmed without hesitation.

"But how? How is that possible?" the pale woman demanded to know, as he fists clenched tightly to the bedspread. That sudden shout, had her throat screaming bloody murder. "No one, and I mean _no one_, should be able to bring someone back from the dead!"

The brown eyed teenager didn't say anything; she didn't even flinch when Lightning sudden anger—though it was really confusion—seemingly came out of nowhere. She knew it was coming and so she sat there, giving the woman her full attention and not saying a word.

"The only beings that can give life back are the Fal'Cie," she pointed out. "And from what I've experienced, they're more interested in taking life away than giving it," she added close to a growl.

"I was out, in the middle of nowhere…surrounded by nothing more than vegetation and predators…fought creatures in a ruin, in the middle of nowhere…and _died_ in the middle of nowhere yet…here I am, alive," Lightning commented, her voice weakening at the end of her sentence. "H-How?"

Silence settled over the pair for a few minutes before Lightning spoke again.

"Just…who are you?"

A deep sigh was released by the person the question was directed towards. "You already know the answer to that. You know who I am Claire," came there answer.

Cobalt eyes widened when she heard the stranger speak her name. How would they know it? She didn't talk in her sleep and she had no identification on her person whatsoever—well, unless one counted her BlazeFire, but she was currently without it at the moment. So how?

The light skinned woman stood from the floor. "I am who every higher power seeks. I am the reason l'Cie were made—why Focuses were given. I am the reason for the war that passed between the two worlds. I am the reason Ragnarok came to be and also why her focus failed. I am responsible for why my home fell to ruin—why the balance that once existed disappeared and left chaos in its wake," she stated cryptically as she moved closer to the bed Lightning was occupying.

"Some people still believe in me, while others don't for they feel I abandoned them; others still believe my existence to be a myth all together. I have been given many names, as I know you have read from the carvings in stone. Numerous thoughts and theories have been created over time that ponder what happened to me, why I left, and—most importantly—how to get to me," she continued, now seated on the bed, next to the warrior.

Lightning found herself entranced by the words. Normally, she would have been annoyed by what she felt were ramblings; however, the words warmed her and she found herself eagerly hanging on to every word.

By now, her face and Lightning's were mere inches from one another; at any other time, the pink haired female would have been very shy and extremely uncomfortable in such a situation. For now however, she felt neither of those, as she stared into brown eyes.

"You know that I am speaking it the truth and you know that I am not forcing you to believe it but to make your own decision," the taller of the two spoke softly but sternly.

Lightning opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. This knowledge…this _information_ was simply too much; it felt so surreal. Yet, looking into dark colored confirmed the truth.

Within her eyes, the rose haired former Sergeant saw _everything_.

The creation of one _Gran_ planet. Then the creation and arrival of people—all of various build and tribes—and with each tribe a demi-god to watch over them and guide them as an older sibling would. All getting along with one another and respecting the balance.

Then millennia later, slight tension begins to fester between the tribes. A desire for a better life—for life to be easier than it was. How a desire to keep peace led to an intervention—a second, smaller planet was made from the dirt of the Gran planet.

And, to go along with the new planet, the creation of another set of demi-gods to help and guide the people; those who remained on the birth planet called the new one the 'Sheltered' planet.

Once again, peace but it was short lived.

The demi-god desired to get out from under their creator. An act of betrayal conspired between a snake and an owl; being trapped within a stone pillar. How words were carved into the pillar concerning a specific type of ritual, performed at a certain time and day—to ensure its prisoner would never be released.

Guarded by four powerful creatures. To ensure that no one ever discovered what was hidden within the place.

How chaos eventually ensued without the Creator; how the two that performed the deed could not undo what they had done. They themselves could not…but humans given a small amount of demi-god power could.

However, the fate bestowed upon people was worse than death.

Trapped within the pillar for eons upon eons—long enough to rage, cry, have their mind break, then lose it, and a million other things.

Time skipped forward to the present—to when Lightning was battling her enemies. How her entire battle and how she died met the unmeetable requirements that where carved into the pillar. How after eons, freedom was finally given.

"I am connected to everyone, even you Claire," the brown eyed teen said drawing Lightning out of the _short_ history lesson. "I am responsible for this very planet that you, and all children of Cocoon, live on now; the natives of this planet had a choice to name it whatever they wanted…yet, they chose to dedicate the name of the planet to me."

Even though she had never believe too much in the ultimate higher power ever, she knew _who_ this person was; immediately, it made sense as to _how_ she was alive—the details to such events completely irrelevant.

"I-It's you," the former l'Cie sputtered out. "You're…you're…"

She was met with a nod before she could even get the name out. "Pulse," she finished for the shorter woman. "Pulse Torres."

The gunblade owner sat there in complete shock; her mouth hanging agape.

"You'll catch bugs that way," Pulse said with a light laugh as she closed the other female's mouth.

"Oh, and even though it wasn't your intention…thanks for freeing me from that prison," the maker of the world praised, as she suddenly struck out and enveloped the eldest Farron sister in a tight hug.

"Can't…breath…"

Immediately, Pulse loosened her hold before releasing the girl all together. "Oi, allow me to help you," she suggested with a grin.

The recovering woman arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean, help me?" she asked. Now that everything was out in the open…she felt a bit awkward talking to the creator of both Gran Pulse—no pun intended—and Cocoon.

"You know what I mean," the taller of the two answered with a smirk. "I _know_ why you're doing what you're doing. I owe you this after all."

"Allow me to help you. Please?" Pulse requested.

Instead of giving a verbal response, the rose haired woman simply nodded; which caused Pulse to beam with happiness.

"Great! I'll have Uri bring up your food, I know you must be starving after being asleep fro three months," she stated as she rose from the bed and headed towards the door.

She was halfway out the door when she stopped. "Oh, and Claire," she called as she turned her head to look over her shoulder. "All I ask is that you treat me like a friend, nothing more."

The dual haired Maker exited the room when she saw Lightning nod again.

When the door closed, the warrior released a deep sigh. "What have I gotten myself into?" she asked to no one in particular, before turning her head to stare out at the setting sun.


	7. Admittance

**A/n: **_And here's the final chapter!...of the "**prologue chapters"** that is, lol. I'm not cruel enough to leave you guys hanging like this ^_^. I worked **SUPER** hard on this chapter to make it as good as I know! it's gonna be...plus, having it out so soon is a bonus too! (it was all the lovely reviews I promise...I read 'em every time I need the motivation). yay me! Honestly, not much to say here...least not w/o giving stuff away ^^; The only thing I can say is, Pulse does use a quote in here that was said by someone else...so, let's see if you can tell who said it and where it is :) (if ya cant figure it out I'll tell ya who it's by in the next chapter). Well, what are you waiting for? Start reading!_

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Chapter 7: Admittance

**A few months had passed **since Lightning had been told that her savior was Pulse; and honestly, the pink haired warrior found it hard to believe at times. Largely because the taller female didn't act like she was said to be from ancient writings.

Since that time, the two had become fairly good friends. Pulse felt that they could be the best of buddies-if only Claire addresses a certain barrier.

The goddess-while she was mostly laid back and carefree-noticed more than she let on.

She noticed how Claire would be posed to laugh at one minute, then the net, her face turned stoic. How one moment the girl would be completely relaxed before she suddenly became rigged; talkative one second, then as silent as the grave the next.

'_I swear, the chicka meets all the requirements of being classified as bi-polar,'_ the dual haired female thought with a chuckle and a slight shake of her head.

But, the much older of the pair knew better—ignoring the fact that she was all knowing.

Whenever Lightning quickly shifted in her persona, Pulse was always quick to ask about the sudden change; she usually poked and prodded the younger woman until the pale fighter was snarling that she was fine and that it was nothing. There were times when instead of responding verbally, Lightning would let her fists do the talking.

Even knowing what the end result was going to be, Pulse was still never fully prepared for the slight sting the strawberry blonde's punches made.

Continuing to not let a sleeping Behemoth lie, the taller of the two would also inquire as to why the smaller girl left home in the first place. She chose to ask as opposed to violating Lightning's privacy—which the former soldier greatly respected. Her answer to this question varied between three.

One being the common response of Lightning falling completely silent—she would remain that way too, for the rest of the day. The second unusual reply was 'I just did, before things between them continued on as if it had never been asked.

Still, the third response was the rarest of them all; it made the light skinned deity extremely happy. This answer began with 'Because I...' before the blue eyed female trailed off and walked off for some hours to have time to herself.

For every bit of progress that was made, when the dual haired teen received such a rare comment, roughly three of four were taken back.

While it seemed that the brown eyed goddess was being nosey—and annoying—with her numerous and insistent questions, she was only helping.

The older of the two knew just how stubborn of a person she was working with, which meant that Lightning had to be pushed just to give the short answers she gave. Yet, she knew the icy eyed fighter was trying-trying to allow herself to be helped by someone other than herself.

That fact in itself was a huge step—whether Light herself even noticed her subconscious efforts of not.

But, Pulse was stubborn as well, and she was not going to let up on her friend; in fact, she was closer to a breakthrough than Lightning realized.

She was going to get Lightning to admit _why_ she left if it killed her-which it wouldn't by the way.

**Switch...**

**"Shut up!" Lightning snarled, **as she climbed onto the water bank and out of the water.

Meanwhile, Pulse was rolling around on the ground in pure laughter; and really, who wouldn't be after seeing the comical way that the former l'Cie had fallen into the water.

They were both hunting for breakfast; today they had chosen to do some fishing in a nearby body of water.

So Lightning found them some sturdy branches to use as rods, while Pulse gathered the stems of large leaves to use as the line. Once that was done, the maker took some sap from a nearby tree and dipped the ends of the stems in it.

Once anything came into contact with this type of sap, they were instantly and completely stuck; only a certain type of salve could dissolve it. Since they didn't have hooks, this method was just as good.

Casting into the water and propping up their rods, they waited for a while—sitting a few feet from their rods, so that they'd be able to react quickly when they got a bite.

A few minutes passed before one of the lines started bobbing up and down in the water; Lightning saw and went to go and retrieve their catch.

However, the moment she grasped the rod fully in her hand, did their catch take off; taking the blue eyed young adult completely by surprise before she was all but snatched off her feet—landing with a loud splash in the water.

The goddess was still on the ground laughing by the time Lightning had walked from the other side to where she was; she stood over her friend with a scowl on her face. Her clothes were completely soaked through and water droplets just slid down her body.

Suddenly, she kicked Pulse in the back; not hard or in a damaging way—though from what she could tell, nothing could hurt the taller female—but simply to get her to stop laughing. "Hey! I said shut it!" she repeated angrily.

The dual haired teen held up a hand as she attempted to catch her breath, as well as get a hold of her endless laughter.

"Okay...okay...okay...its outta my system now," she said, coughing to hide the few giggles that she couldn't hold inside.

"So...are we eating something else for breakfast or have you yet to get your fill of fishing?" Pulse inquired from her space still on the ground. Another swift kick, to the side this time, was her only response before Lightning turned and began walking away from the large body of water and Pulse.

It wasn't long before the caramel skinned girl was walking next to the younger woman.

The maker, laced her fingers together behind her head as they walked; their breakfast could be fruit off of any of the tress they passed. This was another benefit to having Pulse as a friend—you never had to worry about what was and wasn't poisonous to eat.

"Why do you always do that?" Pulse questioned as they strolled along in no particular direction. It's not like they had a destination in mind.

They passed underneath a tree where a delicious looking piece of fruit caught Lightning's eye; she somersaulted into the air and expertly picked the fruit from its branch, before landing gracefully on the ground and falling back into step with her friend. "Do what?" she countered, as she bit into the fruit. It was at its peak in ripeness as the sweet juices filled her mouth, while the rest trailed down her chin.

They arrived at another tree that held a piece of fruit that caught Pulse's eye; she simply tapped her fist into the bark and the piece of fruit she had had eye on dropped into her hand. She wasted no time in biting into hers either. "You know what I mean," she remarked, as she slurped up the juices.

"You always get upset and sorta lock up, whenever the joke ends up on you," she pointed out, as she spit out a few seeds. "Don't be so uptight, learn to laugh...especially at yourself," she commented.

The elder Farron, swallowed what she was eating before responding. "Why would I laugh at myself? …That's just stupid," she stated.

"Quite the contrary, it shows that you know how to lighten…hehe, I just made a pun with your name…up and that you can take a joke," came Pulse's swift comment.

A sharp glare was sent towards the elder of the two. "I can take a joke!" she protested, which earned her a skeptical look from Pulse. "I can!" she insisted.

"Really? …You can take a joke?" the brown eyed woman asked, just to be sure. She was met with a nod. "Oh, Really? Then mind explaining what was up with your reaction when Fang pranked you and had you go into work on your day off?"

"That wasn't funny. That was downright cruel," Lightning stated.

"Only because you were the one it happened to. Had it been anyone else, you would have found it quite amusing and would have cracked a tiny smile," Pulse.

The pink haired woman became silent because she had no come back for that; Pulse had hit the nail directly on the head.

The duo walked in silence for a few miles—grabbing and eating various fruits along the way. As they walked, the sky began to slowly turn gray, signaling that it was going to rain sooner or later. Eventually, the light skinned girl spoke again; this was the sentence that was going to get the ball rolling.

"Claire…why did you leave?" the deity simply inquired as she stopped in her tracks; Lightning did the same thing no less than ten feet in front on her.

A roar of thunder boomed across the sky, as the pair just stood there.

"I just did," came the second answer before the former Sergeant resumed walking once more.

But Pulse was having none of that, as she shook her head and stayed where she was. "You know what I think…I think you're afraid," she stated. "It's okay to be afraid Claire, y—"

"My name is…Lightning," the pink haired fighter interrupted suddenly angry at having her birth name spoken.

The taller of the two gave a short snort. "You don't even say that sentence like you used to," she stated. "Having trouble believing yourself?"

In an instant, the shorter female was before her with her fist cocked back. She swung, intending to plant Pulse on her ass for such a comment; however, her plan failed because Pulse was grasping her fist in her hand.

She held a tight grip on the pale woman's hand that couldn't be severed.

"No more running from this Claire," she said, her voice haven taken on an entirely different tone. This tone held no traces of playfulness or anything—she was completely serious.

Lightning tried to free her fist from the other woman's grasp, even though her efforts were in vain. "I'm _not_ running from anything!" she shouted, as crystal blue eyes bore into light brown eyes.

Suddenly, the sky became illuminated as a bolt of lightning streaked across it.

"How often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him?" was the goddess's counter.

"Now…I'll ask again, _why_ did you leave!"

Already angry that the older girl wasn't letting up with her questions like she usually would have by now, hearing that question sent Lightning overboard. Something within her broke and she couldn't stop it even if she tried.

"Because I could no longer look myself in the eye and recognize the person staring back!" she shouted, finally being able to snatch her fist from Pulse's grip.

The former Guardian Corps soldier then fell to her knees. "The eyes that I look into are cold and uncaring, and I don't know them even though they're supposed to be mine! I left because I no longer want to be the guarded and distant person that I am! I…I want to be the person I used to be! When I see my eyes in the mirror I want them to be my own, not some strangers! I wanna be Claire!" she all but screamed.

Apparently, her breakdown touched the clouds in the sky because they opened up and released their harsh tears upon the landscape.

By now, Lightning's body was trembling. Not from the chilled rain that assaulted her body, but because she herself was crying. She was shedding tears that were long since overdue to be released.

"I want to be Claire again but…but I don't know how," she admitted. "…I don't know if I can." She added, as she freely allowed tears to fall from her eyes.

Pulse was set to say something after this, but the pink haired young adult began speaking again. "But, I do know…I no longer want to be Lightning," she stated with conviction in her weakened voice and her steel looking eyes.

Pulse kneeled down before her friend; she was just as soaked as the pink haired woman. "Thank you for admitting 'why' not just for me, but for yourself as well," she said, as she placed a hand atop the younger female's head.

"Since you told me this, I think its fair I told you _how_ this came about," the caramel skinned deity added.

The rain violently beat down on the pair, but they easily ignored the sting it caused their skin.

"Do you remember right after you completed your Focus how you turned into crystal?" Pulse asked; the gunblade owner nodded. "While within crystal stasis, you were completely unguarded…meaning that every emotional barrier you had even placed up was dropped, and when those walls fell you were hit with things that you had kept locked up for years," she informed her friend.

"Everything that you've ever experienced in your life rushed you and crushed down on you, those few minutes you were in stasis. Though I'm sure to you it felt a lot longer. In those brief minutes you became Claire again—reminding you that you weren't always such a closed off person," she explained.

The taller of the two, paused briefly to allow that information to sink in before she continued on.

"And you know those dizzy spells you get?" Pulse began. She waited for her question to be acknowledged before moving on. "Well, they're more than just your average 'oh I stood up too fast, lemme sit down' dizzy spells…but I'm sure you know that." She added with a slight chuckle, which earned one from the warrior as well.

"The fact of the matter is, whenever you have one—which yours seem to revolve around you making eye contact with yourself—those dizzy spells are actually Lightning, fighting against your body, Claire," the only existing Torres stated.

The shorter adult's eyebrows rose from that bit of information. "Wait…are you telling me that I have a split personality?" she questioned in shock.

Pulse tilted her head from side to side. "Eh…not completely. What I'm saying is that you have another _person_ sharing your body, compliments of your crystal stasis and all emotions hitting you at once."

"You both are fighting for control, which explains why you're prepared to laugh one second and then wearing your poker face the next," the dual haired maker added on.

Suddenly, Claire sprang to her feet and began pacing—her mind sorting over everything that she had just been told; she was moving so fast that she almost slipped in the mud a couple of times, but she was far too wrapped up in her own thoughts to care.

Living up to her former title, the pink haired female turned suddenly to look at her friend. Pulse was still in the same position that Claire left her in.

"Separate us?" she all but demanded to know, eyes looking at the other figure expectantly.

_Can say I didn't see this one coming,_ Pulse thought to herself; even without her powers, that was a request that could have been seen for miles away.

"Are you sure?" the kneeling of the two inquired, just to be sure.

She was met with an absolute nod. "Yes, I am. I…I don't want to be _her _anymore…I want to be _me_ again, for good," she said and Pulse could tell that it was more of a plea than anything else.

"As you wish," Pulse conceded as she stood to her full height. "I owe you after all," she added as she held out her hand.

"Shake my hand to confirm our agreement," she stated. Without hesitation Claire/Lightning shook the maker's hand; seconds later a blinding white light surrounded their hands before an excruciating pain erupted throughout the strawberry blonde's entire body.

Not soon after her entire form began to ache did she pass out and slip into sweet unconsciousness.


	8. Return

**A/n:** _Okay and once again we're back at the original beginning...obviously some editing has been done, lol. Another thing, this chapter was read by Phoenixian Stardust-she's agreed to be my second reader for this story ^_^ __Something else I'd like to point out...this story is random to some degree b/c every day life doesn't necessarily follow strict guidelines ya know? But despite the randomness at times I **PROMISE** this thing does have a focus-haha, pun-numerous ones in fact; just be patient and it will all pan out. Last but not least, I'm psyched about the reviews this story has gotten w/ just the **beginning chapters** alone! (just two shy of 30!) I cant thank you guys (readers, reviewers, favers, alerters, etc) for your interest and support in this story. YA"LL ROCK! ^_^ Enjoy.

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Chapter 8: Return

**Atmospheric eyes opened slowly** and were greeted to the sight of the rugged landscape rushing by; eyes could barely identify objects, but since they had just opened they weren't trying to focus in on anything. They blinked rapidly; trying to adjust from the darkness that closed eyelids provided the retinas, to the brightness that was the outside world. Still, despite the mild discomfort that was slowly fading the cobalt eyes remained starting out at the passing landscape.

A heavy sigh escaped full lips. "Exactly one year. I can't believe that's how long it has been," the woman muttered to herself. Her voice was deep, but not in a way that sounded too manly or took away from her femininity; if anything, it added to her voice's sultry, young tone.

Raising a hand to run through soft, rose colored locks, another sigh passed through her lips before Claire sat back in her seat. Truly, she couldn't believe that she was on a train heading back home after a whole year on her own.

"So what was I then? …A figment of your imagination?" Pulse inquired, suddenly appearing in the seat opposite of her.

A chuckle escaped the other girl. "Okay, so I was on my own a few _weeks_, not the entire year," she admitted. "Happy now?" The dual haired goddess flashed a smile as her answer.

"To be honest, it doesn't actually feel like that much time had passed at all," the former Guardian Corps Sergeant said, as she turned her attention to her friend.

The untamed female smirked—eyes glinting over as she recalled some of the fond memories between them. "Well, time truly does fly when you're having fun and off enjoying yourself," she responded.

"Though, I'm sure that pack of Gorgonopsids would have to disagree with your type of fun." The caramel skinned woman added in a murmur, with a light laugh.

She heard Pulse's comment and chuckled at the memory, uncaring if she received stares from fellow passengers or not—which she did. The reason the pale female earned stares from fellow passengers is because unlike her, they were unable to see the Maker of their planet sitting in the seat opposite of the fighter.

The taller female could chose who could and who could not see her—just one of the numerous skills she possessed.

The former soldier's eyes went back to focusing out the window. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes.

Pulse arched an eyebrow. "Something on your mind?" she inquired with a tilt of her head.

The shorter of the two, turned her attention back to the body seated across from her. "Just…thinking about everything that's happened to me while I've been away," she answered honestly.

"Is that a good thing or bad thing?"

Once again, royal blue eyes glanced out the window. Staring unfocused on the beauty outside, the young woman reflected on why she had left in the first place.

A light smile appeared on her face. "No, it's definitely a good thing…Great even," she added after a brief paused.

"I mean, while initially, this disappearing act of mine was originally something that I was doing for myself, now that I think on it…" here the gunblade owner turned to look the older girl in the eye. "…I believe that I was doing this for more than just myself."

"You mean, you were also doing this for Serah," Pulse stated, as her elbow was positioned on the arm rest and her head was supported by her hand.

The younger of the two nodded.

When she had seen Serah, she didn't really give a damn about Dajh, walking out from that crystallized pillar she had been overjoyed; she had believed that she would never see Serah's face again or her smile. Their focus changed her views...that and Snow's constant optimism about never giving up and seeing Serah again.

Yet, seeing her last, blood relative's face also caused her to feel like her own blade had been used to pierce her chest. While she rarely ever felt the emotion, she immediately knew what it was—guilt.

Had she done right by her sister from the start—embraced Serah, instead of verbally _hurting_ her, and basically chasing her away…swore to keep her from being purged, instead of _threatening_ to turn her in if she truly was a l'Cie…being Serah's big sister, instead of being the military's soldier. If she had done _any_ of these things, be it one or all three, then things could have turned out differently...but sadly, Claire would never know because she couldn't rewind time.

_Damn, what I wouldn't give to find a mystical dagger that allowed me to control time!_ _I swear the first thing I'd do was rewind it back to my birthday and do it over! _She thought to herself. But, seriously, what were the odds of that happening right?

"Practically non-existent…_especially_ since I made _sure_ that the Prince had the _real_ mystic dagger before we left," the dual haired woman remarked. "And I sure as hell ain't rewinding time…So I can be trapped in that pillar again? I think not!"

The strawberry haired ex-l'Cie grinned. Anyway…all those conflicting emotions hit the former Guardian Corps Sergeant at once, and they hit her hard. She was certain that if she still had her Eidolon, Odin would have appeared before her to put her out of her misery; yeah, that's just how much of a wallop they packed.

_But, I'm glad they hit me when they did_, the strawberry blonde thought with a smile. Not a half smile, or a smirk, but an actual true smile. _It let me know that I didn't want to be __**that**__ anymore._

By "that" she simply meant being the hardened, cold, uncaring soldier that they all had grown accustomed to seeing...well, as accustomed as one could get with her "charming" personality.

Claire had thought that closing herself off to emotions would make her stronger, and essentially one of the reasons she had enlisted in the military; when she and Serah had lost their parents she automatically knew that she would have to become a pillar for her sister. However, in the long run that course of action caused more harm than good...at least emotionally and when it came to bonding with people and letting them in.

She no longer wanted to be _Lightning_ in her entirety; and in retrospect, she wasn't anymore. Now, true Lightning would forever be a part of her...as a piece of the woman was left with her, just like a piece of Claire was left with Light. The former l'Cie had no plans of accessing that part of herself ever again.

She wanted to be the fun, carefree, outgoing, dirty minded woman she was beneath the exterior. She wanted to be _Claire_...she _was_ Claire, and she had succeeded with breaking down, and even destroying, some of the many various layers she had forced onto herself through the years.

That's why she had all but disappeared, leaving nothing but a letter to be delivered to her family, saying that she left. Though she wasn't there when the letter was read, she was pretty sure that her little sister was pretty damned furious with her course of action; it was a bit cowardly how she left, she admits.

She tsked. "I wouldn't be surprised if Serah punches me in my face when she sees me," she said, laughing lightly at the thought. After all, it's not like she had given the reader of the letter a destination as to where she was going or when she'd be back. Claire knew that beneath her sister's "wouldn't kill a creature even if it will kill me" persona, the younger Farron was just like her...Serah just happened to resort to that side of herself when all else failed and being "nice" didn't work.

_Serah isn't the only one you've got to watch out for,_ the goddess thought to herself as it seemed that Claire was exiting memory lane.

"While that's nice and all Claire," she began, referring to the other reason the pink haired fighter disappeared. "It's not gonna kill ya to put yourself first. You always do things with Serah in mind, because yeah she's your sister, but even siblings get tired of doing things for one another."

Pulse then reached over and placed a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder before leaning forward. "All I'm saying is, think about yourself for a change, be a little more selfish here and there. Okay?" the deity requested.

Suddenly, the intercom came to life throughout the entire train before the blue eyed female had a chance to respond; the captain was speaking.

After the captain finished talking, the wild woman stood from her seat and stretched. "Well, I'll let you have these last couple hours in peace," she said.

Claire smirked. "You're just itching to get off this train because you're feeling cooped up," she responded.

The taller of the two shrugged at being caught. "Eh…what can I say? Eons upon eons of being stuck in the same place can do that to a person," she replied with a laugh.

Pulse preferred the wildness that was her planet as opposed to the "tameness" of towns and cities—not to mention the fact that the older female loved traveling; the woman was a nature fanatic. The former soldier couldn't really blame the caramel skinned teen.

"I'll be sure to come and visit you and your family in person," Pulse promised as she began to slow fade away. "And remember Claire, if you ever wanna talk ya know I'm always there to listen…even when I'm not." She added before she was completely gone.

After her friend was gone, the ex-soldier noticed that pretty much everyone in her train car was staring at her as if she'd gone insane! An embarrassed blush quickly spread across her cheeks' she even dipped her head a bit.

_Thanks for making it look like I've gone off the wagon Pulse!_ She mentally hissed, knowing _exactly_ why the people were staring in awe at her.

"_Anytime," _came the smart ass retort from the goddess. Claire could practically hear the elder of the two laughing her ass off.

She huffed deeply, for setting her gaze out the window once again; largely to avoid the stares of the people.

Her thoughts drifted as she watched the landscape pass by. In just a few more hours she would be arriving in New Bodhum—arriving _home_.

Home to her sister, Serah, ...and Snow and Sazh and Hope and Vanille and Fang; she was coming back to all of these people—as a person they probably never knew existed, and Serah had probably forgotten this person since it had been such a _long_ time.

She was coming back to her..._family_. While they all didn't share blood, or were marrying in such was Snow's case, they had all experienced a life changing journey that bound them together, and that was good enough for her.


	9. Changes

**A/n: First off, I wanna thank _Branded By Pulse_ who pointed this out to me in a review, b/c I would have been clueless otherwise. Second, I'm really really really really really really truly and deeply sorry everyone. What I posted for this chapter a couple days ago was NOT the right chapter-I accidentally posted the original version instead of the edited version *facepalm and s.m.h* Thanks to _Branded By Pulse_ for mentioning Fang n Vanille being crystals in their review, as well as _Phoneix_ being my reader and keeping this edited version in her e-mail, I'm able to give you all the proper edited version ^_^. So plz, enjoy this chapter...oh! and if you reviewed already for the wrong posting, just leave me an unsigned review and I'll respond to you (if it doesn't let you post another signed review for this chapter that is^^;)**

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Chapter 9: Changes

**Serah let out a heavy sigh** as she went about preparing breakfast for the entire household; with everything she was cooking it could be considered a Fal'Cie's meal…but due to the people she was cooking for, more specifically their ravenous appetites, it was more of a kids meal.

Just from her sigh alone, it was clear that her attention wasn't focused solely on her task.

"Claire…where are you?" she whispered to herself as she tended to the skillets, one containing bacon while the other held sausage patties. She also placed three dozen biscuits in the oven before rising to check on the _large _pot of rice and an equally _large_ pot of cheese grits.

At first, whenever she used to call her sister's name, real or adopted alias, she immediately felt anger towards the ex-soldier. How could she have just up and abandoned her? Over time, the anger that she had felt for such actions had dulled, until finally they gave way to the deep longing she felt to be with Claire again. Serah would even settle for closed off and distant _Lightning_ so long as they were together again.

She should have known something was up the day her sister just up and disappeared a year ago; her sister had given her a necklace that she hadn't spoken of in _years _and Snow had approached her looking somewhat defeated.

The crinkled paper her held in his hands should have been another clue and the final one should have been when he spoke her sister's name before he handed the letter to her.

When she had read the letter, she had instantly broken down into tears. For the second time in her life, it felt like her sister had abandoned her. Snow was at her side in the blink of an eye and held her the entire time she cried—which she had learned was a pretty long time, when they spoke of it later.

As her fiancé held her why she cried, the others went out and searched for her sister; Fang seemed especially pissed and _very _determined to find Lightning. They all believed that they'd be able to catch up with Light since too much time hadn't passed, not to mention the lancer's excellent tracking skills, and bring her back…even if they had to knock Light out to do so.

Though, Fang might have done that regardless if the elder Farron had agreed to come back with them peacefully or not.

The group, minus Serah, Snow and Dajh, had searched the whole day and had come up empty handed; well, that was not entirely true…Fang had given Serah her sister's cape—successfully bringing tears to her eyes again.

Sadly, beyond that, the groups search turned up nothing and Serah knew it wouldn't. She knew that Claire didn't want to be found, she knew the moment that Snow had received and delivered them all, but herself more specifically, that letter.

It had taken a while, aka one month, for Serah to be able to think about her sister without going from saddened to angry and back to sad again, but she managed. Thanks largely in part to her family comforting her—though the other two females more so than the males.

Snow, Sazh, and Hope did offer her support…as best they could without looking gay, though she did still have her doubts about Hope.

_*Beeeeeeeeeep*_

"Huh?...Oh, the biscuits!" she cried in a slightly panicked tone, thinking that she had burned them. She quickly opened the stove and removed the two trays, happy that she had not ruined them.

"Everyone, breakfast's ready!" Serah called out loudly to gain the attention of the other patrons of the house. Not ten seconds after the words had left her mouth did people begin to fill the kitchen and immediately made their way to the food.

"Man! This smells great baby!" Snow praised happily as he went about fixing his plate, a big grin on his face.

Sazh rubbed his hands together as he followed behind the largest member of the group. "Hey, hey, hey…'bout to having a rumbling filled in my tummy," the fro wearing male stated happily. The chocobo chick in his hair, Sweets, poked his head up and chirped in agreement. "Umm-hmm…you said it chocobo."

"It all looks delicious Serah," Hope commented a bit shyly as her praised his idols (and crush's) little sister.

The young Farron simply smiled happily in response; she had learned to fix her plate first before notifying everyone that the food was ready least she be caught up in that hectic mess. As the light blue eyed female watched what she considered her family, take their seats, she reflected how so much had changed within the past year.

For one, the village of Oerba was bustling with people. After Cocoon had fell, people immediately flocked to the abandoned village since it was basically there; it took only a few months before the village had expanded and grown into a fairly large town. Those who didn't stay in Oerba, though it was renamed New Bodhum due to the large body of water near the edges, migrated out elsewhere on Pulse and built their old homes that they had on Cocoon.

Besides that, she and the rest of her nontraditional family were celebrities now. Serah chuckled to herself as she thought about how that happened…though how it started off really wasn't funny.

The group was returning home after a night out on the town—it was done largely to help Serah get through her emotional turmoil. As they were walking down the street, each in great moods, a group of teens, about five or so, came out of nowhere and started throwing rocks at the family.

They teens were also yelling "Get out of our town you filthy l'Cie" and "Don't spread your disease to us". Yeah…there were still a few die hard Pulse l'Cie haters out there.

A few of those rocks ended up hitting Vanille and Serah…which immediately pissed Fang and Snow off at having their girlfriends hurt; the beating that they gave the group was proof of that. It took the shortest two females of the group pulling their lover's off the little punks to prevent them from being killed.

That incident successfully ruined everyone's mood. The youngest two women of the group tried to calm their lover's down by pointing out how it wasn't really the teens fault—earning skeptical looks from their taller counterparts. In the brawler's and lancer's mind, those teens got what they deserved…no one hurt their girlfriends while they were around.

Both Vanille and Serah stressed how the Cocoon citizens, well former Cocoon citizens, didn't know the truth about the entire l'Cie fiasco; which explained their resentment. And, that if they did then the people wouldn't be so hateful towards them.

To make a long story short, Fang had been inspired by their words and suggested that they write a book—a memoir, if you will—about their journey; specifically, starting with the thirteen days before they all met one another, told from each of their perspectives.

Serah recalled the tattooed Pulsian's exact words after she pitched the idea. "Well, if the military hasn't told the citizens the truth…then it's our job to set the bloody record straight, and tell 'em the truth yea?"

The entire family agreed with Fang's logic. If the military was gun-shy about informing the people of the truth behind the l'Cie, then they would just have to take matters into their own hands.

"It's what heroes do," the engaged female recalled the NORA leader saying back then.

With that decided, they all went about writing about the days before they met one another; the destinies intertwined that shaped the fate of Cocoon and all its citizens. It had taken them roughly four months to write down everything—they wanted nothing left out.

The next hardest thing was getting the books published—which was easier said than done considering that they were running low on funds and that none of the publishing companies wanted to deal with Pulse l'Cie. Forget the fact that Cocoon citizens lived on Pulse now _and_ that they were no longer l'Cie!

It was decided by the lancer that they could only publish one book, which the money would have to come from their own pockets, and that out of all of theirs Hope's would be the cheapest; this move would successfully throw them out of chronological order based upon the next person Fang and Vanille's awakening affected. After paying to have the book binded and self published they could do nothing more than wait.

The response they received was more than they could have hoped for; which was great because after three weeks of waiting they were a few gil short of being flat out broke.

People loved it and were practically begging to learn about the lives of the other l'Cie as well; which happened over the course of a few months…one member of the groups book coming out per month.

By then, group had agreed and had worked out numerous contracts with various publishing agencies about how much money they each would receive due to the number of units sold, posters, advertising, etc.

Practically overnight they had become stars; none of them had expected the first book to go over quite so well in such a short time if at all…but it did. Now they couldn't even go into town without being swarmed by a mob of fans and admires wanting autographs, pictures, and even _kisses._

"Hey! You ladies better get down here before you miss out on some good food!" Sazh yelled out as he bit into a piece of bacon. "Ya'll know Snow won't leave even a scrap of food," he added with a slight chuckle.

"Hey!" Snow protested with a mouth full of food as he looked up and glared at the pistol wielding man.

Before their conversation could go deeper, namely friendly arguing, footsteps could be heard ascending stairs followed by the opening of a door.

"Aye, no need to shout," a smooth, accented voice answered before its' owner stepped into view wearing that infamous smirk of hers. "We can hear ya just fine without all the yelling."

Fang entered into the kitchen with her with her best friend/lover Vanille attached to her waist. The cinnamon haired female looked flushed, and the room's other occupants had no doubts as to _why_ that was.

"So could we," Sazh grumbled in response before turning his attention back to eating. Fang had heard his words and simply smirked at him, not even ashamed of the fact that the entire house knew what she and Vanille had been up too earlier.

As blue eyes watched as Fang prepared a plate for herself and Vanille, while the shorter Pulsian went and took a seat, Serah was yet again reminded of change. After her sister had left, Fang had stepped up and started taking care of things.

The young strawberry blonde really wasn't too surprised with the tanned woman's actions; Fang and Lightning were very similar when it came to dominant/leadership positions. It was in both the ladies nature to step up and take care of the members of their family…which explained why they often fought as much as they did in the past.

With the books being major successes, the Sari wearing fighter suggested that they branch out into other fields. The others agreed and did just that; each was successful in whatever they chose to do.

_Yup, everyone's we're all successful and basking in the glory of it,_ Serah thought to herself. _Except the person that you wish for the most,_ she added sullenly.

So deep in her thoughts was she, that when a large hand gently touched her arm, she jumped in fright. Her body relaxed immediately when she realized that it was Snow's hand.

"Serah, are you alright?" the blonde male inquired curiously. His eyebrows were draw together, showing his concern.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking…" she trailed off, not really having to finish the sentence. He, and everyone else at the table, knew _who_ she was thinking about.

"About Sis," He stated, and he received another nod. He gently squeezed her arm, though it still looked like he could snap her like a twig from even such a simple action. "Don't worry, Serah, she'll be back," he assured her in a confident tone.

"That's right," Vanille agreed from across the table. "You're her little sister after all. So there is no way that she won't come back." She added. Her eyes and voice portrayed just how concerned she was for Serah; truly her heart went out to the girl. What Serah was feeling was more or less similar to how she felt when she and Fang got separated.

"I agree with Vanille," Hope said, lacking anything of his own to say…least he express his feelings in the process. Even after being with his "family" for a year, and a little more if you counted their journey together, he still felt a little shy around them from time to time. Now obviously being one of those times.

Sazh nodded. "Yeah, not only that, but soldier girl's gotta come back because who else is gonna give you away on your wedding day?" he questioned with a sideways grin, that caused Serah to brighten a bit.

The black man knew, as did the others, that Serah hadn't picked a date or anything because she didn't want to get married without her sister there; it just wouldn't seem right to do so to the younger Farron. Thankfully, Snow totally understood her feelings and did not pressure her in the matter.

"I'm sure Sunshine will be back soon. So don't worry yourself too much Little Farron," Fang remarked. "That's why you've got us to keep ya company. And I'm sure we're _way_ more fun than our burst of Sunshine?" she inquired, arching an eyebrow, looking at Serah with a playful smile on her face.

The tribewoman's words really hit home and got the desire affect; Serah laughed. "You're right about that Fang. You guys are way more fun than Claire," she admitted, causing the whole table to burst out in laughter.

As she looked at the five people sitting around the table she felt much better. While she did miss her sister dearly, she had them there to keep her company and to keep her from losing herself to sadness; she had her family. Still…

_Claire, please…come home soon,_ Serah thought before going to work on her own plate of food.


	10. Arrival

**A/n: Alright! After a slight issue w/ the previous chapter, we're back on track and its time for you guys to have this chapter right here! Now, after a bunch of seriousness in the past couple chapters you guys will be happy to know that this chapter has a bunch of humor in it ^_^. I also wanna thank Phoenix for reading it, as well as offering a suggestion to add to the humor (I wonder if anyone can guess what was here idea? ;) Anywayz...let's get on w/ this chapter! ^_^**

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**Chapter 10: Arrival

**"So, what's on the agenda for today baby?" **Snow inquired as he placed his plate in the sink. After that was done he went back over and stood in front of her, wrapping his massive arms around her.

Seriously, if it wasn't for the fact that people could see an extra pair of legs in front of Snow, a person wouldn't be able to see Serah at all.

The much smaller of the two leaned into the hug. "Well, we do have our book convention to go to," she informed her fiancé, as she snuggled into his chest.

"Oh yeah…I completely forgot about that," the bandana wearing male admitted, with a sheepish grin on his face as he looked down at the younger Farron sister.

Sazh shook his head in amusement. "The fearless NORA leader forgetting things? …What is the world coming to," he commented with a chuckle.

The blonde male rolled his eyes. "So, what time do we have to be there?" he asked his future wife.

Removing her head from his chest, she looked up at Snow. "It's in a few hours," she said as she looked at the clock on the wall. "But…I think we all should head down to the hotel now." She added in.

The ginormous sized male nodded in agreement with her suggestion. "Yeah, you're right. There's bound to be a sea of fans waiting for our arrival at all the entrances," he pointed out.

"Which means that we'll more than likely be signing _more_ than a _few_ autographs," the afro wearing gunner stated.

"Oi, I say bring 'em on!" Fang responded with a grin on her face, as she had one arm draped over Vanille who leaned into the embrace.

The black male turned his attention to the tanned Pulsian. "You won't be saying that when pretty much every male there surrounds and tries to grope your girlfriend," he said with a teasing smirk on his face.

Though, based upon the large _male_ fan base that Vanille had earned, the former pilot wasn't just talking empty words.

The brunette's eyes flashed something akin to fire and her hold on the redhead tightened considerably; honestly, the lancer could be _so_ possessive of Vanille at times. "I'd like to see 'em try it, aye?" she practically growled out in a low tone.

She didn't have to go any further with her sentence; the others knew that Fang would beat _anyone_ who so much touched Vanille in a way that was inappropriate or without the shorter Pulsian's consent.

Vanille looked up at her long time friend/girlfriend; she wore a smile on her lips as she chuckled a bit. "You're such a jealous one you are," she stated as she leaned up and kissed the base of Fang's throat—it was meant as a soothing jester.

The kiss earned the desired effect and the Sari wearing lancer's body relaxed immediately; still, her arm remained wrapped securely around _her_ girl.

A few moments of silence passed over the group before Serah spoke again. "Ok…I think it'd be safer on the fans if we use an entrance _not_ on ground level," she said, successfully breaking the silence.

"Agreed," both Snow and Sazh answered together.

"Well, what if we enter into the hotel through the roof?" Hope suggested, from his spot at the table. "This way, we won't have to worry about being held up signing autographs…it can be done later." The silver haired teen pointed out.

Snow smirked. "Plus, it's a great way to keep Fang from going to jail for assault, homicide, and murder," he joked with a chuckle…though deep down, he was completely serious.

"Cheeky bastard," the lancer muttered. She would have said more, but her lips had better things to do at the moment…they were being entertained by Vanille's.

Sazh leaned back in his seat. "Great idea, but how are we going to get to the top of the roof?" he questioned curiously.

Hope had no response for that, so he kept quiet. Luckily, Serah spoke up.

"The hotel owners!" the pink haired teenager exclaimed suddenly, as if she just recalled the fact. "They offered to give us a ride there since we chose to hold our convention at their hotel."

"Uh…I don't think ground transportation is gonna cut it," Sazh began to protest but was cut off my Serah shaking her head vigorously.

"We could arrive by chopper," she stated with a smile. "They did just get a few from _someone's_ airline company." She added with a light laugh.

The gunner of the group was speechless.

"Well then, it's settled," Vanille stated as she stood up from her seat, which happened to be Fang's lap. "We're all making our entrance rooftop style!"

The NORA leader nodded. "Yeah, it seems that way…especially if Sazh's silence has anything to do with it," he said with a hearty laugh.

The young Farron turned and smiled brightly at him. "I'll phone the hotel and have them come pick us up here in an hour," she remarked before walking into another part of the house to make the call.

"Okay! Everyone get ready so we can head out!" the blonde hero yelled.

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**The train slowed down **as it entered into the continually growing town, before pulling into the station and coming to a complete stop.

Claire stepped off the train, with nothing more than a backpack slung onto part of her shoulder and a duffle bag in her hand; all with a smile on her face. "Man, it feels good to be off that thing," she spoke aloud, as she stretched, popping joints and tendons back into place.

The pink haired ex l'Cie then surveyed the area. People were busy zooming past her going Fal'Cie knows where. "This place is so much more alive than when I was last here," she murmured to herself as she bit the corner of her lower lip.

"Can't say that I didn't expect it," she remarked, as she then began walking in the direction of her home. It didn't ever once occur to the former soldier that her sister and Snow were no longer in the place that she had picked out when she was last there.

She chose to walk home because it gave her a chance to think about just how she would greet her sister after a year's absence.

"Let's see, how about 'Hey Serah, long time no see, no?' Nah, that won't do. Okay, okay, what about 'Whoa, I wasn't expecting to see you here' How lame is that? We live together for Fal'Cie's sake! Maybe I should stick with the usual 'I see you're still with this loser' line?"

She shook her head not only at that thought but all the others as well. This was another reason she chose to walk home—it gave her a chance to calm her nerves.

Claire sighed deeply, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "Really, what would people think if they saw me, formerly tough as nails Lightning, nervous about seeing her little sister?" she asked no one in particular.

Suddenly, she smirked at the mental image her brain came up with, despite the fact that she was no longer that person anymore. "Their jaws would probably drop to the ground if not fall off all together."

As Claire walked through the train station, opting to walk through the town instead of on the outskirts, she was so caught up in her silent musings that she didn't notice people around her were dressed oddly similar to each member of her family; some were even dressed like herself.

A few people did stop to look at her, but it was only briefly, before they resumed walking murmuring under their breath…"_Lightning_ would _never_ dress like that. What a pathetic imitation."

The deadly warrior, at least on the outside and to strangers, was oblivious to it all. Still, the biggest thing that she failed to notice were all of the posters that she passed within the station had pictures of each member of her family; and of course, posters of herself as well. She was also clueless to the television ad that was playing, talking about the bestselling book series of the year, based off the lives of seven individuals.

Yup, Claire was totally clueless to everything happening outside the retches of her own mind; but, her inattentiveness would soon catch up to her and catch her completely off guard.

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_**We are all here today,** because of a very amazing book series. …Based upon the lives of former Pulse l'Cie their individual stories have touched and moved us all…_

"Whoa…" Snow breathed out as he peaked from behind the curtain to get a look at the crowd. The stubble bearded man's face held complete shock.

Sazh followed his example and a matching look etched itself onto his face as well; Sweets poked his head out from his owner's head, saw the sigh, and promptly fainted back into the mountain of hair that was his home.

"Talk about your Fal'Cie smoke and mirrors," Sazh whispered in an awed tone.

The trenchcoat wearing male nodded. "Can't say that I was expecting this," he said, as he did a double take to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

Fang approached the two and decided to see what all the "fuss" was about. "Hmm…well whadda ya know," she quipped as she pulled away from the curtain with a smirk on her lips.

Both Serah and Vanille approached the curtain and decided to get in on what the elder three of the group knew that they didn't; the shorter two females peered out from where the others previously looked. Their eyes widened considerably at the sight that greeted them.

…_Their individual lives woven together by a power beyond their control, we have read how their paths crossed. The back-story of how it all began…_

"We did say that we'd be holding a book convention? …Right?" Serah inquired, leaving the question open for anyone to answer.

The redhead turned her attention to her "new" family. "Well, at least we know that they've read the books," she joked with her trademark laugh following. "And, have gotten _really_ into it by the looks of things."

"Aye, I'll say," Fang agreed. "So much so, that they're trying to be us. Pff…good luck with that." She scoffed.

…_Combined, selling over 75 billion units over the past year and counting, please help me welcome the authors of the 'Episode Zero' series… _

The room then erupted into a thunderous roar of cheers, as people practically screamed for the authors.

Suddenly, Hope approached the group. "I'm back from the bathroom," he informed them. He then noticed the looks on their faces.

"What's up? …Did I miss anything?" the silver haired teen asked, eyebrows coming together in confusion.

The lancer shrugged; her trademark smirk plastered onto her face. "Eh…you'll find out soon enough 'joey'" he answered. The boomerang wielding didn't have a chance to respond before the elder Pulsian was dragging him out onto the stage.

As the group stood out on stage waving, before taking their seats at a table on stage set up for them, Hope noticed what the others had found out moments ago. But, unlike them, his reaction was far from subtle.

"Oh my Gaming Gods! They're dressed up like us!" he hollered; Fang erupted into a fit of laughter.

And it was true. Every fan out there was dressed like someone on stage; there were even quite a few people dressed like the elder Farron as well. Talk about a devoted fan base.

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**"Man, it's like a freaking ghost town,"** Claire commented to herself as she walked along the sidewalk.

Apparently, after she exited the train station, people had just up and vanished.

As the elder Farron strolled down the sidewalk, she passed by a hotel. She could hear the sound of muffled shouts, even though she was across the street from the place.

She raised her empty hand to her mouth, and proceeded to nibble on her thumb nail in thought; a habit that had developed since childhood. "I wonder where everyone is," she asked no one in particular.

The shouts coming from the hotel got louder, if that were possible, which caused her to turn her attention towards the sound; it was a good thing too.

The sight that greeted the crystal eyed female was enough to instantly halt her walk towards her home. Not only that, but, it was also enough to have her dash across the street—thank _Pulse_ there weren't any vehicles coming from either direction—and snatch down a poster that was on the outside of the building.

The former soldier stared at it long and hard, even though she recognized the image. She was just in shock.

"This…this is a poster…of me," Claire said in complete shock. Well, technically, it's a poster of her old self, but the point is there all the same.

Taking her eyes off her poster and looking around, she saw several other posters too; each had a member of her family on it. The ones she saw had Vanille, Sazh, and Snow.

_What the fuck is going on?_ She questioned mentally, turning her attention back to the poster in her hand.

Her attention was taken from staring when a young man exited the hotel. Maybe he could tell her what was going on?

"Excuse me, sir," she called as she approached him, holding up the poster of herself. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

He looked at her as if she had just asked the stupidest question in the world; and, to him, she had. "Geez, have you been living in a cave?" he countered. Before she could respond—with the answer or sarcasm—he spoke again.

"The Episode Zero book convention is going on today. The authors of each book in the series are speaking about the books and answering questions," he informed her. "Look I've love to stay and chat but I have to pretend I love my kids more than this convention and go get them because their mother can't."

"Hey wait! Who are the authors?" Claire called out to the man's back.

"Can't go pick up the kids because you're in the hospital because of a slipped disk. Ha! What a crock! …This is just payback for me cheating on you isn't it?" the man grumbled to himself.

Hearing the question aimed at him he paused and turned around. "You're dressed like Serah's sister so you tell me?" he countered, as he resumed walking. "Horrible costume imitation by the way!" he yelled.

Ignoring the man's irritability, as well as his insult to her looks, she made a mad dash to the door of the hotel.

"Serah…" she breathed out as she entered the hotel, and followed the signs to where the convention was being held.

**

* * *

**

**The convention was taking a brief intermission.** The first half of the convention was spent with the group thanking their fans for all their support and answering a few questions about the books.

Now the family was signing autographs—be it of their books or personal items from fans—taking pictures, chatting ideally, and etc.

This was the sight that Claire was greeted to upon entering the room; the sound of voices all meshed together in an undecipherable language and people brushing and pushing against one another.

Her eyes almost fell out of her skull at seeing a sea of Serahs, Snows, Hopes, Vanilles, Sazhs, and Fangs.

"The world is barely safe with _one_ Fang and Snow…but _hundreds_?" Claire muttered to herself as she began to search through the crowd for the _real_ Serah Farron.

"Everyone!" the hotel manager said into the mic while on stage; instantly, the room became silent and all eyes were focused on him. "The intermission period is over. So, let us return to our seats and pick up where were left off."

The group's imitators eagerly took their seats; all ready to ask the now popular group whatever question came to mind.

"Number 123," Serah pointed out.

The imitation Hope stood up. "I have a question directed at Fang," the imitator said, and it was clear from their voice that they were a female.

_Why are pretty much all the "Hope's" here girls?_ The real Hope thought to himself sadly.

"Aye?" Fang responded happily.

"How's your sex life with Lightning going?" he/she asked quite seriously.

The brunette on stage blanched as if she had been physically slapped. "WHAT?" she demanded to know. "Where the bloody hell would you get that idea!"

The question was unexpected by a number of parties; both the real Snow and Sazh began laughing madly at Fang's expression. Vanille and Serah both held the same level on shock on their face as Fang…though obviously, both for separate reasons. Hope was the only one with confusion written all over his face.

"Whoa, Fang, you're like…dating Light too?" the solver haired teen on stage inquired. "I thought you and Vanille were…"

"No, I'm not!" came the lancer's response. "And, yes! Vanille and I are dating and have a damn good sex life!"

The imitation Hope spoke once again. "I honestly, don't see how you can be with someone who looks like they haven't even hit puberty yet," the girl continued on. "Maybe you're into little kids…"she trailed off as she seriously pondered the thought.

"And," "Hope" continued on. "If you're dating someone who looks like they should still be in school, then that reflects badly on you."

"Oi, now wait just a—" the tattoo wearing Pulse born began but was cut off; her anger quickly rising from so many factors at the moment.

"If anything, Lightning is the better choice because she looks her age and I'm _sure_ she can do things that little Miss Innocent up there can't. The evidence is there in both fan fictions _and _Wikipedia! Lightning is the one meant for you!"

That was the last straw as Fang slammed her fists down onto the table and quickly stood up from her seat. "Listen hear you fuckin' diehard 'Flight' or 'Flaire' fan," she growled out. "How dare you even _think_ to insult Vanille!"

"How dare you pick that little _kid_ over Lightning," the female Hope countered, not backing down from this argument.

As the two females' argument escalated, the _real_ Claire stood stunned in the back of the room; she had heard the question posed by the fake Hope and it simply blew her mind. Her and Fang dating? …Only in a fan fiction.

First off, Fang was just her friend—albeit a good one and an even better battle partner. Secondly, anyone with half a brain could see that Fang and Vanille were meant for each other; even if she did develop some weirdo feelings for the lancer, how was she ever going to compete with what was between the two Pulse natives anyway?

It took someone brushing past her to videotape the scene that she was knocked out of her surprised state.

"Right, gotta get to Serah," the elder Farron whispered to herself. Looking straight ahead, she knew that she'd never be able to push through such a tightly packed crowd; people had gathered as close to the stage as they could to witness the heated argument between Fang and the female Hope.

From what she was over hearing it represented a battle between "Fanille/Vang" and "Flight/Flaire" fans.

Looking off to the side, she saw a couple of unattended microphones—which is where she got her idea from. Expertly maneuvering around people she made her way to one of the mics; hitting her hand to it she heard the echo which meant that it had yet to be turned off.

"Serah!" she yelled into the device.

The echoing of her voice did not halt the argument at all. It did however gain her sister's attention, but only briefly; the heated argument was consuming her sister's focus.

"No questions right now please," came the quick reply.

The strawberry blonde sighed in frustration. "Serah! It's me!"

"Not now!"

"But Serah…" _Why are things never easy for me?_ The former l'Cie wondered to herself. When she felt a tap on her shoulder, she turned her head slightly. _Hotel security…great._

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to respect her wishes and stop bothering her right now. If you continue, I'm going to have to escort you out for harassment," the slightly taller male warned her. "Oh, and by the way, your Lightning outfit is pitiful"

That was the last straw. _Guess I'll just have to get your attention the usual way,_ she thought to herself.

With all the quickness of her former name, the former Sergeant struck out at the guard. Her fist collided painfully with his jaw; a cracking noise came from the hit, signaling that his jaw was either broken or dislocated. He was on his back and seeing stars before he ever saw the hit coming.

Glancing to her left, she saw that three more guards were fast approaching her; obviously for taking down their buddy. Not wasting any time, she tore into them.

Once within a close enough distance, she lunged towards the closest guard; sending her toned knee into his chubby stomach. He landed on the floor in a heap. Not allowing her momentum to go to waste, she continued on into a tuck n' roll, ending up behind the other two guards.

Instantly, she pushed up onto her hands before spreading her legs out and catching them both in the head; successfully knocking them out cold. When she heard their unconscious forms hit the ground as well, she pushed herself into a flip, somersaulting—spinning three times—before her feet touched the ground again.

Claire landed gracefully on the ground, with her BlazeFire—returned to her by Pulse before she left for home—in sword mode. That little scuffle definitely had gained her the attention of her sister; as well as everyone around them.

…With the exception of Fang and the fake Hope who were still going at it, verbally.

"C-Claire," Serah gasped/whispered simultaneously as she brought up her hands to cover her mouth, from seeing the older woman standing there in the flesh after a year of her absence.

"Sis," Snow breathed out, just as shocked as his future wife.

"Light," Hope uttered the name.

"Soldier girl," said Sazh.

"Lightning," Vanille commented eyes wide in slight disbelief.

"I'm with VANILLE!" Fang snarled.

"You should be with LIGHTNING!" the fake Hope replied.

Ignoring the arguing, the entire room was silent. The former soldier put her BlazeFire away into it holster where it belonged, and picked up the duffle bag and backpack that she had set down prior to. She was going to speak but someone beat her to it.

"_Oh my God! It's Lightning!"_

Before Claire could even open her mouth to say anything, every hair on the back of her neck stood up. Suddenly, a sea of people had encircled her, leaving her pinned up against the wall.

She was hit by a sea of joyous filled screams. Hundreds of hands assaulted her person, touching everything from the hair on her head to the boots on her feet. Her vision had become impaired because things were just being shoved into her face. Still, she was able to handle this, though she was a bit confused with such a reception.

"Uh, if everyone could just back up…" she tried to shout over the crowd of people that surrounded her that was growing by the second.

Since they weren't listening to her, Claire began pushing her way through the crowd, which was easy enough. She made sure to hold on tight to her belongings. However, before she could even move a foot away from the wall, she felt someone try to remove her BlazeFire from it holster; that was the last straw.

"Alright, that's it!" the strawberry blonde practically yelled. She didn't have time for this; she wanted to see her sister damn it!

She snapped her finger and in an instant her entire being was glowing with a blue light; the sight was enough to cause the crowd to immediately silence and stare in awe. Suddenly, the elder Farron launched herself into the air and then used the wall behind her to propel herself forward and over the crowd. Those that were staring at her had eyes the size of dinner plates.

She landed a good 30 feet away, very close to the exit, from her stunned audience, snapping her fingers once more to deactivate her device.

"Cocoon and Pulse Fal'Cie…you…are…_AMAZING!_" someone in the crowd hollered about before they _all_ started rushing towards her.

Then, Claire did something that she _never_ would have done if she was still completely _Lightning_…she ran. And ran extremely fast.

"Just what the hell is going on here? Who the hell are you people?" the blue eyed fighter wondered aloud as she ran out of the hotel from her pursuing crowd.


	11. Reunion

**A/n: Aaaannnd, I'm back after a being absent a while, sorry about that ^^; To everyone who reviewed I promise I'm going to respond to you, just been busy is all. Well, here's the next installment of the story with your dose of humor. Hope you all enjoy ^_^

* * *

**

Chapter 11: Reunion

**Claire was breathing heavily** as she practically sprinted down the street. She felt like those thoroughbred horses that she read about in her science fiction books; well, if she was, she'd definitely be winning the race.

"Hey Claire," Pulse greeted as she appeared running next to her friend.

The currently sprinting female was too busy trying to stay ahead of the obsessed mob after her than to be frightened of the goddess's sudden appearance.

"So…how's the homecoming going?" the dual haired girl inquired, with a lopsided grin on her face.

Suddenly, the former soldier turned a corner, for anyone else, the quickness of the action would have left them running in the wrong direction for a few moments. However, for Pulse, it was no problem at all—she turned the corner in sync with her friend.

Claire growled. "You could have briefed me to what was in store for me when I got back!" she hissed, as she jumped over a fan that tried to tackle her from the front.

The older woman laughed. "And ruin your surprise?" she countered, referring to the cheering mob. "I think not!"

_Besides, this isn't even the icing on the cake for everything you're in store for today,_ Pulse mentally thoughts to herself.

The former l'Cie huffed in agitation. "See, this is why I don't' pray to you!" She stated. The Maker laughed loudly again.

"You should you know," the caramel deity began. "How else are you gonna make it into paradise?" She pointed out.

The ex-Sergeant quickly snapped her head to the side; blue eyes stared intently at the slightly taller of the two. Just as Claire was about to make her retort, she caught motion out the corner of her eye.

She didn't wait to see what the object was that was rapidly approaching her; she simply followed her instincts and responded however her body saw fit.

"Whoa!" she hollered as she suddenly jutted to the left before being forced to jump over some trash cans that were in her path.

That was another thing she had to worry about besides the massive crowd chasing behind her; she had to watch out for people running out of stores and jumping at her or people springing out at her from alleyways.

"I should make it into paradise even if I decided to have another Purge! I freed you from that pillar after all," she retorted as she continued to run for her life.

Pulse snorted as she ran alongside the changed woman. "Please, you didn't even know I was there. It was a complete and total fluke," she responded, her tone teasing.

The deity could care less how she was freed, so long as she was out of that prison was all that mattered to her.

Claire smirked. "Call it what you will, the point is that I earned a guaranteed pass to paradise chicka," she commented.

"Yeah, well, don't go around telling everyone or else they'll _all_ be trying to get on my good side." The elder Farron would have laughed if she weren't so busy trying to get away from these people.

"So, how are you planning to ditch your _adoring_ fans?" pondered the creator as people simply passed right through her; they were completely unaware of her physical existence.

Cobalt eyes scanned around for a means of escape, or at best, something that would at least put a gap between her and the crowd until she figured out a better course of action.

"There!" she pointed out with a tilt of her head, towards an intersection up ahead. "I can go that way then pick a backstreet to disappear into. I can wall jump and then get away via the rooftops," she explained to her friend.

Pulse nodded. Claire picked up her pace, slowly forming a gap with her increased speed.

Once there, former soldier waited until the very last moment before making a hard left—putting roughly 40ft between herself and the "mob", before quickly jutting into a dark alleyway.

It was a dead end, so her eyes quickly began surveying her surroundings. The walls were spaced too far apart for her to wall jump between them; plus, she didn't want to run out the battery on her Grav-con Unit.

She heard the cries of the crowd fast approaching. "Shit, I better do something fast before they catch me. …Hot girl, dark alleyway, crowd of obsessed people…if this setting doesn't scream gang rape," she murmured to herself.

"No, no…I'm just one woman, even though it feels like you're being pleased by multiple partners," Pulse quipped with a smirk. Claire took the time to smack the perverted deity in the back of the head.

"Not is _NOT_ the time for you to be playing around," she growled out between clenched teeth. "Now, help me get out of this mess!" Ordered the slightly panicking female.

The light skinned woman rubbed the back of her head. "Ow," she complained even though the hit didn't even hurt; she didn't feel pain after all unless she chose to feel it.

"And why should I help ya out anyway when you just hit me?" Pulse countered, clearly in the mood to be difficult.

The strawberry blonde's eyes widened as the sound of cheers and cries of adoration drew ever nearer; she was quickly running out of time.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" the gunblade wielder apologized hastily.

Brown eyes sparkled. "Well...since you apologized I guess I can help up out," she remarked before snapping her fingers.

"Chow," the goddess said before fading out of sight.

"Hey wait! You didn't help me!" Claire protested at the spot where the other female stood seconds ago.

_Oh, but I did,_ Pulse's voice echoed within her mind. _Look behind you._

The pink haired woman turned and her eyes almost fell out of her skull. "You have got to be kidding me!" she screeched in absolute horror.

Pulse chuckled. _Consider it payback for hitting me._

Along the once empty wall behind her now stood a very large, very smelly, dumpster. Slowly, she approached the trash bin and lifted the top; quickly, she slammed the top down again.

"You could have at _least_ given me an empty dumpster," the warrior complained. "There's no _way_ I'm jumping in that." She stated.

The sound of ever closer footsteps changed her mind; her eyes landed back on her salvation.

Grudgingly, Claire tossed her baggage into the dumpster before following herself. She then reached up and closed the lid.

The former l'Cie groaned inwardly. _Uhh…it smells like Snow's farts and his funky boots. *COMBINED*! In a hot room with *no* ventilation!_ She commented mentally as she clamped a hand over her nose to prevent her from inhaling the fouls smells; though it didn't help too much in the gagging department.

No sooner had she done that did the stampede of feet and screams run pass the alleyway.

Though she couldn't see, she was pretty sure that a few people had entered into the alleyway to see if she was hiding there. So long as they didn't check the dumpster Claire would be fine.

_I am __**NOT **__burying myself in this! _She mentally hissed. It took a few minutes but eventually the roar of the crowd died down.

Slowly, she raised the top and peeked out, electric blue eyes shifting from side to side cautiously. Seeing as how the coast was clear she pushed open the lid and stood to her full height.

"Ick," she grumbled as she removed rotten food and things she didn't even want to think about from her person.

_Damn it! I just bought this outfit too! _

She grabbed her bags and then hopped out the dumpster, landing gracefully. She approached the entrance/exit to the alley and cautiously peered out; looking for any signs of people lingering or ambush.

When none caught her eye she jogged out of the alleyway and headed in the direction of her home.

She took to side streets and alleys cautiously making her way through the town. _I'm gonna need to bathe in fire to get this smell off me_.

So into her thoughts about hygiene, the elder Farron didn't notice that the street land on, after running across a few roofs, wasn't empty. In fact it was sporting the "mob" that was chasing her.

"Look! There she is!" a group of girls screamed in joy at seeing their idol, favorite character, and for some, their crush.

True to her former name, Claire took off in a flash, not even bothering to look over her shoulder; being chased after for the better part of the hour, she already knew the crowd was giving chase the moment those girls pointed her out.

"Damn it, why me?" she cried, as she booked it down the street.

* * *

**"Fang,"** Vanille whined her lover's name. "We have to go!" She begged the tanned warrior. She grasped onto one of the elder woman's arms and tried to pull her away from the argument.

Honestly, it was like the redhead trying to pull Snow away from either food or Serah…he wouldn't budge an inch. Though it probably had something to do with his size verses hers, the result for her trying to get her girlfriend to move were just the same.

Hearing her girl's voice get through the haze of anger she was in, Fang quickly turned her head to glance at her girlfriend. "In a minute 'Nille," she said before turning her attention back to the silver haired female Hope.

"Now, listen up you severely brain damaged, hard of hearing, un-excepting of reality bitch!" The lancer hissed out, poking the shorter female/male in the collar bone with every word.

Just let 'em _try_ and sue her.

"There has _NEVER_ been anything between Light and I other than friendship!" she growled, getting in her "opponents" face. "While it's not that I don't think Sunshine isn't attractive or anything like that…I'm _WITH_ Vanille, and I always will be!"

"And, if ya don't like it, then stick to those sorry fics you're reading! Because that is the _ONLY_ way I'll _EVER_ be with Lightning!" she hollered, breathing heavy and chest heaving as she finished.

Etro, she put less energy in taking down Dysley than what she was giving just to shut this fan up and get them straight.

_Thought, maybe straight ain't the word considering who they're dressed as,_ she commented to herself silently.

The female Hope simply stood there with a bored expression on his face. "Are you don't yet? …Good." He/she said before the lancer could respond.

"Yeah, you say all of that now, because you're under the illusion that you love Vanille. You're just in denial, and that's okay. Everything you've said is simply because Vanille's right here and you don't want to hurt her feelings by telling her that you love Lightning, and I can respect you wanting to let her down gently," responded the silver haired teenager.

Their eyes then focused on the redhead. "And you should stop trying to hold Fang back and let her be with her soul mate. In fact, you should also go to a surgeon and see if you can get some implants because—" the female Hope never got a chance to finish.

That comment being the last straw, Fang drew back and punched "Hope" in the face; she barely put any power behind it—least she kill 'em—but that still didn't prevent the "male" from flying off "his" feet.

The knocking over and falling of chairs could be heard as they landed; "Hope" released a groan signaling that "he" was still conscious.

"Fang!" came the reprimanding tone from the pigtail sporting youth.

"Oi, I didn't even put any power behind it," the warrior defended herself, not that she thought she should with this situation. This person had insulted Vanille, they're lucky she didn't do more.

The shorter woman huffed and stomped her foot. "Ohhhh…never mind," she gave up with a sigh. "Anyway, come on! We've got to catch up with the others!" she informed the tanned fighter as she tried to pull the woman towards the exit once again.

A dark brown eyebrow arched. No longer in a heated argument, the elder tribeswoman noticed that they were the only two bodies—ignoring the fan and security—within the conference room.

As her green eyes surveyed the room, noticing empty row after empty row and paper all over the ground, she happened upon the bodies of the security guards.

Even from such a distance she could tell they weren't dead by the slow rise and fall of their chests; they were however, knocked out since that was the next step down.

"Oi, what happened to the security guards?" Fang asked curiously. "And, for that matter, where are all the devoted fans?" She added.

The bonding rod owner, let out a somewhat irritated sigh. "I tried telling you while you were arguing—" she was cut off.

"Oi! That was defending your honor!" the older girl protested.

A matching pair of green eyes rolled in response. "Anyway, everyone's gone off after Lightning! And I don't mean some imitator, I mean the real deal responsible for taking down security Lightning!" she informed her lover.

In an instant, the lancer's body tensed; muscles coiled and so tightly wound that one would think it was Vanille's doing. Any other time besides now, it would have been. Still, the look of Fang's eyes told otherwise.

A set of pearly whites, slightly sharp, which added to her name, were seen, as she practically growled in frustration.

"Come on 'Nille," the brunette said as she jumped off the stage and began running towards the exit.

Vanille was set to follow the elder female but the sound of chairs being moved drew her attention. Apparently, "Hope" was coming to.

"Ugh…that's right Fang! Go get your girl!" the young teen shouted happily.

"Oh, shut up you," the redhead said as she kicked the diehard 'Flight/Lang' fan in passing.

"Hurry up Vanille," the taller of the two shouted.

"Coming!"

_

* * *

**She's back!** I can't believe that she's finally come home!_ Serah thought to herself excitedly. Her heart practically pounded in her ears as she headed down the block.

The pink haired female didn't for a second think that she was running off in the wrong direction; after all, what other reason could there be for people simply dropping whatever they were doing and take off in the same direction as herself?

"Serah! Serah, wait up!" Snow yelled out as he ran to catch up with his wife to be.

_Damn, I don't ever think I've seen her run this fast. Still, I guess it makes sense…Light *is* her sister and all, _he thought to himself as he had to push himself to catch up with her.

Eventually, he managed to catch up with the rose haired colored female before he pulled a little more ahead of her before quickly maneuvering in front of her. Serah instantly put on breaks.

"Hold on baby," Snow began, spreading his arms out to keep her from progressing forward. Before another word could exit his mouth Serah beat him to it.

"What are you doing Snow?" she practically demanded to know. "My sister's finally come back after a year and you're telling me to wait? What gives?"

The bandana wearing blonde shook his head. "That's not what I'm saying at all," he gently rebutted. "But, how are we gonna _get_ her?" he inquired.

"Huh?" the smaller of the two responded, genuinely confused by his entire question.

By this time, the other two had arrived. Sazh had broken into a light sweat and was panting heavily.

"Damn girl…you're trying to send and old man to an early grave," Sazh panted out as he hunched over in an attempt to catch his breath.

The duo had also arrived in enough time to hear the question that Snow was asking to Serah, though Sazh was too busy catching his breath to answer and Hope was just as excited as the fans that Lightning was back.

"Oh my Gaming Gods! I can't believe Lightning's back!" the silver haired teen proclaimed in absolute joy. The three ignored him.

"What I mean Serah, is once we do find Light, how are we going to get to her with so many people chasing, and possibly, surrounding her?" he clarified for his future wife; he was going to have to learn to say what he meant in one go sooner or later.

Sazh nodded. "He's right. Light's bound to have an ocean of people surrounding her because unlike us, the people haven't seen her before. The book, or at least Serah's part, has already made her very popular. So…to see Light in person is bound to have pretty much everyone in town flocking to her," he added in, as he stood off to the side.

Now, true, they could always get to Light the old fashioned way. Namely, Snow knocking people, quite literally, out the way and opening up a path to the elder pink haired blonde. Considering Lightning hadn't already started working on that by the time they found her.

Light had a thing about personal space—to the point of obsession as far as the pilot could tell. And, if that person wasn't Serah, whoever violated her bubble was in for some serious pain. However, Snow and Fang were the exceptions; yes, they got hit, maybe even harder, just like the rest of 'em. The difference being that they were still conscious after taking a hit.

"Ohhhh…I hadn't really thought about that," Serah admitted, looking down at the ground in embarrassment for a moment.

She had been so happy to see her sister, even though it was brief, and was back home that she completely forgot about their _large _fan base.

Suddenly, Serah felt a weight on both her shoulders and looked up and was met with a pair of blue eyes; Snow's were several shades darker than her and her sister's.

"Its' okay, Serah, we'll get to her," the stubble bearded man promised giving her his trademark smile and wink.

A few moments of silence passed among the former l'Cie before it was broken.

"So, what's the plan?" the boomerang wielding teen inquired. They all looked at each other, the wheels turning in each of their heads.

* * *

**Claire was standing **with her back up against a concrete wall; apparently, they had built this after she left. Had she known it was there she sure as hell wouldn't have run in this direction!

The crowd had circled around her, giving it a radius of about 30 inches. Slowly, they approached her like a PSICOM soldier on an escapee.

_I wonder if she'll let me hold her BlazeFire…_

_What a hot piece of ass…_

_Marry me…_

_Be my girlfriend…_

The former soldier growled in frustration as numerous voices assaulted her ears. She could barely make out anything; what she did make out made want to punch a few faces in.

_Damn it! If only my Grav-con Unit hadn't gotten messed up when I hopped into that dumpster!_

Unconsciously, her free hand reached for the hilt of her BlazeFire; though she would never _kill_ civilians…but she would severely cripple and mane them.

She sighed. _Where's a miracle when I need one?_ She asked herself mentally as her eyes took in the crowd surrounding her.

* * *

**"Hey, I think we found our target,"** Sazh pointed out, tilting his head in the direction of the group of adoring fans. The fact that the entire crowd was chanting "Lightning, Lightning, Lightning" helped to strengthen that fact.

"Can you bring us in a little closer Sazh?" Serah requested, as she held onto the hanging straps in the ceiling looking at the scenery below them.

The group was currently riding in the helicopter that they arrived to the hotel in. Sazh was taking the captain's seat, it being his chopper not to mention he was a pilot, while the other three occupied the back.

Behind Sazh was Hope. Across from the young teen was Snow, who was respectively seated beside his fiancé, with a massive arm wrapped completely around her form and holding her close to him.

The gunner nodded and immediately descended closer to the town; no one really noticed since damn near everyone down there was fascinated with Light

Hope leaned to the side a bit, to have a better look at the driver's face. "Do you think we'll be able to get her from here?" he wondered considering their position in the air.

"Yeah, we can get her from here," he informed the trio. "And it looks like we better do it quick. Looks like the fans are about to move in for the kill."

"Serah, Snow…you guys ready?" the gunner asked over the roar of the spinning blades. He glanced back and was met with a nod. "Alright, on my signal…NOW!"

* * *

**Suddenly, they all rushed for her.**

Before they had a chance to crush her, or worse steal her BlazeFire, she felt drape over her, hitting her in the head in the process.

"What the—" she began but cut her sentence short. The next thing the former Guardian Corps soldier knew whatever was around her was being pulled up and as a reflex she latched onto it; she was being snatched off the ground and into the air before she knew it.

She cried out in surprise at the suddenness of it all. She began to struggle, believing it to be one of the crazed fans, from what she could tell.

* * *

**"Whoa!"** The young Farron cried out as she was assaulted not only by Light's weight, gravity was a bitch at time, but also by the older female's struggling.

When it looked like she was about to be pulled out of the chopper, Hope took hold of Serah's wrist, which led to Snow grabbing a hold of the both of them.

"Seems like we've got a fighter on our hands," the afro sporting male commented with a hearty laugh.

Serah turned her attention to their driver. "Sazh, can you take us home?" she requested/pleaded.

"No problem. We'll be there in five," he said before turning in the direction of their house.

* * *

**"Hey, isn't that my house?"** Claire wondered aloud to herself when the place came into view. _Wow, Serah and that oaf really fixed this place up_.

The fighter then noticed that her ride was slowing down and lowering her to the ground. The strings around her arm and leg released her and she landed on the ground with a soft 'thud'; she was quick to stand up and dust herself off.

_Not that it really makes a difference if I'm dirty. I dived in a dumpster for Fal'Cie's sake!_

She was also quick to remove whatever she was became tangled in after struggling. _A ladder? _She thought in both confusion and surprise.

Once it had been removed, crystal blue eyes watched as the ladder retreated into the clouds. A few moments later she heard the twirling of blades and saw a helicopter descend from its place in the sky.

She raised a hand to shield her eyes from the fast moving wind that was being blown about. She watched as the chopper landed and its propellers slowed to a stop.

"Hey there Sis, glad to have you back," the blonde said from his spot inside the helicopter, as he slid open the door.

"The soldier finally returns," Sazh quipped as he emerged from his ride; Sweets simply flew around happily in circles.

"Lightning!" Hope cried in pure joy. He wanted to run to her and wrap her in a hug…but he couldn't because he had gotten tangled up by all the various straps inside the chopper.

"Claire!"

Her real name being called drew her attention to the only one allowed to use it…but that would soon change. She watched as Serah pretty much jumped from the helicopter, maneuvering her way around Snow, and raced towards her; the younger sister launched herself at Claire when she was barely an arm's length away.

It didn't matter because Claire made sure to catch the shorter female.

The grip her baby sister had on her was like a death grip; still, after a year without Serah, Claire eagerly welcomed the embrace. Serah's head was buried in her neck, while the taller woman rested her head atop Serah's.

Everyone stayed where they were and simply watched the two reunited siblings. For them all, it was rare for Lightning to show such emotion and allow such physical contact without out breaking it in less than 30 seconds.

Eventually, the two pulled apart. Claire had a hand on each f her sister's shoulders and looked down at her sister with a bright smile on her face.

"Serah I—"

_*BAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM*_

The former guardian Corps soldier was cut off as she was met with a fist to the face. Her head painfully snapped to the side; the hit was so powerful that it threw her off balance and sent her falling onto her butt.

She grimaced. _Fuck! …I should have seen that coming,_ she mentally berated herself. _Still, I'm glad to know she's got a little bit of me in her,_ she thought proudly. Claire made sure not to smile, least she anger her sister further.

Those who were on-lookers grimaced at the sound of fist connecting with face; their jaws were on the ground and their eyes wide from shock. _None_ of them had seen _that_ course of action coming, especially from _Serah_.

"Wow…" Snow breathed out in total astonishment.

Sazh glanced at him. "Damn, it looks like the little lady is shaping up to be like her sister," he stated in awe.

"Guys," Hope called in order to get their attention to get help with his plight.

He shook his head. "I can't help but wonder if that would be a good or bad?" he pondered in curiosity.

"Put it this way, you already know just how deadly and dangerous _one_ Farron is…now double the deadliness and double the danger and you tell me if that'd be good or bad?" the pistol wielding male countered.

"A little help here?" the silver haired teen pleaded, trying desperately to gain their attention.

"Hmm," was the bandana wearing male's response. "I see you're point."

"It's easy to see where Serah gets that left hook of hers from," he added. He was met with a nod from the size 15 shoe wearing man.

Silence once again overtook the group as they watched the two sister's intently.

"Just where the _hell_ have you been?" Serah demanded to know, a blazing fire in her piercing blue eyes. Claire had to admit, it was almost as if she was staring at herself.

_Her *old* self, _she corrected mentally. _And it's definitely something I don't want to see again, especially not on Serah in anyway._

The older Farron scratched the side of her head with one finger sheepishly. "Uhm…I don't suppose we can have this conversation inside?" she asked.

She was only met with Serah quickly turning her back to her big sister, before the girl headed toward the house. Claire took that as a yes. She removed herself from the ground once again.

The BlazeFire wielding woman sighed deeply. _And just when I thought the day couldn't get any longer,_ she thought to herself, as she followed after her sister.

Snow and Sazh trailed after her not willing to miss out on a single detail of this upcoming conversation. Hope was left to figure out how to escape the clutches of the chopper on his own.

"This is not cool!" Hope hollered from his seat as he released a defeated sigh.


	12. Eruption

**A/n: Well, what can I say folks? My reader said this chapter could be better and I aim to plz :) ...So, if you were wondering why it was taking so long, that's why; Phoenix won't let me post crap ;) Anway, the madness continues and believe me when I say, its leading up to what a lot of you want to see...no,no,no, not that _that_comes later, lol. And as for disclaimers, ya know I own NOTHING (though maybe Pulse in an OC way, seeing as how she was never_seen_in the game or anything...requires more thinking)**

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Chapter 12: Eruption

**Snow and Sazh entered into the house,** not too long after the Farron sisters did. They made it inside just in time to see Serah ascending the stairs; Lightning wasn't too far behind her.

"Hmm…seems the sisters want a chance to speak in private," the gunner stated, as he rested his chin between his thumb and index finger.

If their conversation was meant to be public, Serah would have led them to the den or the living room.

"Maybe we can listen in from the steps?" Snow suggested in a hushed tone, trying not to be _too_ obvious that they were being nosey.

But, was it really nosey to want to know what's going on with another member of your family? …Well, maybe not in every other household, but in this one, yes.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Shaz agreed with a quick nod of his head, before he carefully made his way over to the steps and slowly and carefully began to ascend them.

The NORA leader followed suit. He made sure to keep his body low as to not be seen, not knowing exactly where the two sisters were and if they were in view of the stairs.

As the two males laid on the steps, Hope entered into the house at that moment, finally free of the helicopter's restraints. He slammed the door loudly behind him, causing Snow and Sazh to panic.

"_Hey!_" the two older men hissed harshly at him; their eyes glancing towards the top of the stairs to make sure that neither of the Farrons' were coming their way.

That would not be good for them right now, they knew.

Releasing a sigh, both men turned towards the silver haired teen. Hope stood there absolutely clueless to his actions.

He looked at them curiously. "Hey, guys, what are you doing?" he asked them.

The afro sporting male shook his head. "Never mind kid. Just keep quiet and get over here," he informed the blue-green eyed boy, motioning him over with his hand.

The shortest male of the group nodded and made his way over to the stairs, taking the same position as the other two men.

"So what are we—"

He was cut off by the gunner's and the brawler's simultaneous 'Shhh!' as him; each bringing a finger to their lips to emphasize the point.

Taking the hint, Lightning's obsessed worshiper, decided to keep quiet; he could always ask what they were doing later.

Satisfied that Hope was now silenced, the elder males' heads turned back towards the top of the stairs; the trio took up residence a little more than halfway up on the stairs. Then, they waited and listened for the talking to begin.

**

* * *

**

**"Oh man!** Can you believe we got to see Lightning in the flesh?" as cosplaying Sazh exclaimed enthusiastically. It was clear from their voice that they couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen years old.

The cosplaying Serah nodded in agreement. "I'll say. She's so _hot_ too," they commented. "I mean the pictures of her are already _amazing_ but to just see such a piece of work in the flesh? Uh…dude, I think I'm getting a boner and I don't even _have_ that kind of equipment!"

The mob that had formed chasing after the older Farron sister had just recently started to disperse. Sure, they were a little down of not being able to physically touch Lightning, take pictures with her, talk to her, etc.

But, the chance to just be able to _see_ her was enough to stem the sadness of the fans not being able to meet an icon…today at least.

As the pair was walking down the street, "Sazh" was suddenly snatched by the collar of his shirt and hefted off the ground. The "gunner" began to struggle and his friend stopped walking the moment the teen was lifted off the ground.

"Fang!" came Vanille's cry, causing the struggling "Sazh" to stop immediately. "You don't have to be so rough," she reprimanded her lover.

The lancer knew her girl was right, but right now, she only cared about one thing and one thing only. "Oi, ya say ya saw Lightning right?" she demanded to know. Both the fans nodded. "Well then, where is she?"

"Serah" answered; she was happy to being answering a question from Fang. "She's gone," came the reply. When blazing jade orbs focused on her she quickly continued. "We had her surrounded but, a helicopter came and picked her up before we got a chance to speak with her or anything."

"Which way did the chopper take her?" the lancer asked.

"That way," the "gunner" said as he pointed off in a direction to the left of him.

Vanille looked in the direction the teen was pointing. "That's in the direction of our house…" she trailed off in a murmur.

_So they got her and took her home,_ Fang thought to herself, as she sat the teen down. "Oi, sorry about that kid," she apologized.

The Sazh cosplayer shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I am never going to wash that outfit again!" he proclaimed.

"It's going to take us about an hour to get home," the redhead stated, as she shifted from one leg to the other.

"That's too long," Fang stated, as she stepped out into the street, causing a motorcycle to come to s screeching stop.

"Oi, mind I we borrow this for a few lad?" the lancer inquired. With the driver simply staring in shock, she took that as a yes, as she went over and removed the young man from his seat…taking his helmet in the process.

The tanner woman then put the helmet on, hopped onto the bike, and revved the engine a couple times. "Oi, she sounds like a beaut," she commented. "Come on Vanille, let's get a move on," she beckoned her girlfriend over to her, while presenting her with the other helmet.

The binding rod owner quickly approached the bike, out on the spare helmet, and seated herself behind her girlfriend; she wrapped her arms securely around the older woman's waist.

"Aye, kid, what's ya full name?" Fang asked, as she adjusted the helmet on her head. She didn't need it messing up her hair.

The stunned up until that point teen spoke. "R-Rory Torn," he answered in an awed tone.

Fang nodded. "Well Rory, I promise I'll bring ya bike back to ya…personally," she informed him. Before he was given a chance to respond, Fang gunned it and took off.

She went into a full three sixty rotation to turn the bike around before heading in the direction of their home.

_I'm coming for ya Sunshine,_ she thought heatedly as she maneuvered excellently through traffic and hundreds of spread out fans.

**

* * *

**

**Claire released a sigh** as she stood before her younger sibling. The younger female was standing before her, hip cocked to the side and her arms folded across her chest; long ago, the taller of the two had dubbed this Serah's "angry stance".

"Close the door," the smaller Farron ordered in a clipped tone. Right now, she just wanted this to be between her and her sister; the others could get involved afterwards.

Slowly, the former soldier nodded and did what she was told; it was as she was doing this, that Claire suddenly realized that her sister had taken them into a bedroom. Upon a closer, but quick, inspection it dawned on Claire that this was _her_ room.

She shook her head, pushing that information to the back of her mind for the moment. She had more important things to deal with, as she finished closing the door. The ex-soldier didn't bother to lock it.

_No doubt Serah wants this to be a private conversation,_ Claire thought to herself remembering how quickly the rest of their family followed after the two sisters.

**

* * *

**

**"Damn,"** Snow cursed in a low tone. "They shut the door." He pointed out, as the sound of a door clicking shut echoed throughout the silent house.

"Thanks for that lovely bit of information, captain obvious," Sazh muttered, words dripped in sarcasm, as he rolled his dark brown eyes.

Hope looked over at the two. "Well? ...Now what do we do?" he asked. "Not like we can hear anything from here and it's not like we can just go and press our ears up against the door either." He added.

That course of action definitely wouldn't go well. If one of the sisters opened the door and they got caught…all three of them would be in for a lot of pain; besides personal space, another thing that Lightning couldn't stand was to have her privacy invaded.

"Well…maybe not the _room_ door," the pilot countered with a smirk appearing on his face. Suddenly, his eyes seemed to gleam.

The blonde sighed. "Leave it to either you or Fang to have a backup plan for ease dropping," he remarked with a chuckle.

The black haired man chuckled lightly. "Hey, always trust the black man to have a backup plan…several in fact," he joked with his trademark smile. Sweets chirped within his hair in agreement.

"Speaking of Fang…where are her and Vanille anyway?" Hope wondered suddenly, remember the last time he had seen the two ladies was back at the hotel.

The stubble bearded NORA leader smirked. "Knowing Fang, once Vanille tells her about Lightning she'll be searching high and low for Sis," he answered the teen. "I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up in that mob chasing Sis."

Sazh nodded. "You're right about that street fighter. Alright, follow me," he said before he began to slowly crawl his way down the steps.

Once at the bottom, he stood at his full height before running out the front door. The others did the same.

**

* * *

**

**Carefully, Claire allowed the backpack** to slip from her shoulders before sitting it on the floor along with her duffle bag.

"I guess…I owe you an explanation," the older sibling began slowly, eyes locking with a pair identical to her own.

Serah's own sapphire eyes flickered with emotion, immediately notifying her sister that she had said something wrong. "You '_guess_'?" she questioned, her tone angry, as she all but hissed the last word.

"Ok. I _know_ I owe you an explanation…everyone probably. But, _you_ most of all," the elder of the two amended her statement. Claire was set to speak again, but Serah beat her to the punch.

"You bet your _fucking ass _you do!" Serah stated, in quite the testy tone. "My _Fal'Cie_ do you know how worried I was over you?" she demanded to know.

Claire was prepared to answer, but once again she wasn't fast enough. Apparently, that question was a rhetorical one.

"I was _devastated_ that you had practically up and left, without even having the courage to tell me face to face. I cried for _hours_ after Snow gave me your letter. Then I cried even _more_ when Fang came back with nothing but your cape to give to me," the younger girl said, so worked up that it was surprising she wasn't spitting fire as she spoke.

Serah was so worked up, releasing what she had built up over the past year, that she began to pace, walking back and forth in front of the bed.

"What if something had happened to you while you were gone? I never would have known because you didn't say where you were going or when you were coming back!" she shouted at her sister, as she turned her head to look at her almost identical twin…if it wasn't for the height differences.

"…If you ever decided to come back that is," Serah added in a hushed tone to herself. Still, Claire heard it and the statement was enough to cause her heart to break.

Ice blue eyes locked with each other once again. "I know I shouldn't have worried because you can take care of yourself. After all, you're _Lightning_…you don't need anybody. You don't need help from anyone. And, you don't get hurt. _Ever_." The shorter female stated.

"But…" the younger of the two began but then trailed off. She broke eye contact with her sister and looked at the floor.

The ex-soldier could hear the change in tone of her sister's voice here. It was softer and without anger; instead it was filled with sadness, which only tore at the taller woman's heart more. Claire wanted to say so many things to Serah, but she knew it wasn't time yet; her sister had to release everything that she was holding inside before Claire would even have a chance at speaking.

A few minutes of silence passed before Serah looked back up at the only other person in the world who she shared blood with. She lifted her right hand and held it to her chest.

"But…I couldn't help it," she all but whispered. "You're…you're the only family I have left Lightning. I-If something were to happen to you…I wouldn't know what to do. I…I…" Serah couldn't even finish her sentence before she broke down crying.

The shorter Farron screwed her eyes shut, hoping that this would allow her to finish what she was saying before the tears started flowing. Without warning, she lunged at her sister and began pounding on Claire's chest with her fists; the older of the two could have easily dodged the "assault" but she did no such thing. Serah deserved this.

_And I deserve this punishment,_ Claire told herself. _I deserve a lot more._

"If…if you had died…I'd be, I'd be…all alone," she confessed through tears as she continued to attack her sister. "I know I wouldn't have been completely alone…I'd have Snow…and Fang…and Vanille…and Sazh…and Hope…but…without you, it would feel that way."

As the younger female admitted this, her hits became weaker and weaker until finally they stopped all together; her arms loosely gripping her big sister's shirt.

The only sound echoing within the room was the sound of Serah crying before her sister. Instinctually, Claire knew that her sister had said all that she _needed_ and _wanted_ to say; now it was time for the elder sibling to make her move.

Slowly and carefully Claire brought her arms up and began to wrap them around her sister's smaller frame; she moved at such a pace allowing Serah to escape or push her away at anytime to show that she was not trying force Serah into such a position. Even with the younger young adult crying, she was still in control over the situation.

Eventually, Claire had both arms around her and was embracing her in a hug; she was uncaring that she reeked, horribly so, but her sister crying was more important than the fact that she smelled worse than a rotting carcass. She sighed to herself, relieved and extremely happy, when Serah didn't fight against her.

The younger Farron buried her head in the crook of the taller woman's neck, and gripped at her sister's form tightly. Serah held her so tightly, not only to accept the comfort offered, but also to make sure that this moment was real; that Claire was finally home.

Cool droplets of water hit her neck as Claire held her baby sister in a comforting embrace. She gently rubbed Serah's back, in attempts to sooth her, as well as ran her other hand through the pink locks of her sister's hair.

If Serah hadn't been so overcome with emotions, she would have instantly realized several differences about the older girl; one of them being that _Lightning_ had initiated physical contact and was maintaining it. The second would be that _Lightning_ was trying to comfort her in her emotional state. The third would be that _Lightning's_ form of dress was completely different from her usual soldier's uniform.

The elder sibling had on a black, form fitting, shirt. The shirt had a white design on its front, looking like it made out ruins or something of the sort. She wore knee length denim gray jeans; that fit her lower half equally perfect as well all showed off her toned, creamy legs. She also wore a pair of black boots that were different from her old pair, because they only went up high enough to cover her ankles; the boots did have silver, metal, straps on them though.

Her holster was still in its original spot, except it was no longer its dark brown color it used to be; instead, the color had now become deep ebony. She no longer sported her leg pouch at all. Hell, even her gloves had changed from blue/gold to black for the back part of her hand, and light grey to where her palm was!

Claire's state of dress held no traces whatsoever that she used to be a soldier and a damn good one in fact.

The two stayed this way for some long minutes before Claire spoke. "Please Serah…" she begged voice hoarse from seeing her sister like this all because of her. "Don't cry…please…Serah."

She felt Serah take a shuddering breath, which she took as her sister trying to get herself under control. "Why?" came the muffled question, since Serah's head was still buried into her neck.

"Hmm?"

The shorter of the two removed her head and leaned back a bit so she could look into her sister's face. Serah's arms, which were between their bodies, rested on her sister's shoulders; Claire's arms were wrapped around her sister's lower back.

To anyone else, this made for quite the _suggestive_ scene.

"Why? Why did you leave us? Why did you leave _me_, Lightning? Why?" the young Farron practically pleaded with her sister for the answer. It was a question, Serah had asked herself many times over the past year, as she wondered the reasons for her big sister taking off.

It was also a question that Claire had asked herself numerous times throughout the year; it was also a question that Pulse had nagged her about too…though Serah was unaware of this fact.

"Serah," Claire started, as she looked down at her sister. As she looked into her sister's eyes, Claire said the first thing that came to her mind; it was also the easiest thing to exit her mouth.

"Don't call me 'Lightning'," she ordered in a stern but gentle voice.

Serah was set to speak but Claire shook her head, it was her turn now; plus, she needed to get this off her chest. It would make explaining her actions that much easier.

"I don't want to be called that anymore…I don't want to _be her_ anymore." Claire added. _I'm __**not**__ her anymore,_ she thought mentally.

She watched as her sister's features, namely her eyebrows, came together in confusion at what was being said to her.

"Wh-what are you saying then?" Serah inquired her voice low afraid that raising it any higher would ruin what was happening at this moment.

The taller of the two saw something flash across Serah's eyes. Was that hope? Or was it something akin to hope?

The ex-Guardian Corps soldier inhaled deeply before responding. "I'm saying…that I want to be called by my name. My _real_ name…the one that was given to me by our parents," she said as she titled her head down to rest her forehead against her sister's.

Serah gasped in pure shock and surprise at what she was just told; her eyes glazed over, signaling that she may start crying again but not for the same reasons as before.

"S-so…does that mean…all the time, you want to be called…" her voice waivered as it quickly evaporated.

The older of the two nodded. "Yeah…call me Claire. For good," she requested with a smile on her face.

Within the blink of an eye, Serah had wrapped her arms around her sister's neck, and hugged her tightly. Truthfully, she had _never_ thought that _Lightning_ would _ever_ want to be called _Claire_ ever again; with the exception of Serah calling her by her given name.

"Now that I've told you this, it will be easier for me to explain why I left," _Claire_ commented after a few minutes.

"Hey, _Claire_ before you get started on that can you do me a favor?" Serah requested with a bright smile as she pulled away from her sister, taking a few steps back.

"What is it Serah?"

"Would you mind taking a bath first," she said, suddenly clamping a hang over her nose. "You stink." She added as she giggled, though that didn't make her statement any less true.

**

* * *

**

**Immediately, the three ease droppers**—who had taken up residence in the bathroom—quickly began to panic. They all shot away from the door as if it posed some type of danger to them; in actuality, it was the elder Farron on the opposite side that was the potential threat.

Especially if she were to discover that they had been listening-in on the private conversation.

"Quick! Back out the window!" Snow whispered, as they all made their way to the window.

Hope was the one at the window. "Me first," he stated as he prepared to crawl through the window.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa…hold on there kid. If anything, I should be the first one outta here," Sazh declared, as he quite literally picked the young teen up and moved him out the way.

The gunner then proceeded to climb through the window himself. However, he was only able to get half of his body out the window before he felt a furious pulling on his legs.

"Oh…no…you…don't…" Hope grunted between breaths as he pulled the much older and heavier man out the window. Sazh ended up being pulled back into the bathroom with the rest of the boys.

The afro wearing man dusted himself off as he stood in the tub. Brown eyes glared heatedly at the young boy. The two started to argue, though they made sure to keep their voices low, least they be discovered.

Though, with the way things were going…they were running out of time and were drawing ever closer to being discovered. While the pair argued, Snow carefully maneuvered himself around the pair and towards their escape—also known as their salvation.

The bandana wearing male was easily—ironically enough—able to get his torso through the opening. His escape hit a bump, when both Hope and Sazh noticed his lower half hanging in the window.

"Hey!" both the gunner and boomerang owner's hissed at the mammoth sized male. Quickly, the two went over to a leg each and pulled, trying to get him back inside the bathroom.

Unfortunately for them, they couldn't. Not only was Snow _much_ heavier than _both_ of them, but the blonde had also gotten stuck.

Sazh shook his head negatively. "The Fal'Cie just aren't being kind to us today," he murmured to himself at their dilemma.

Hope looked at Snow's trenchcoat covered butt then towards Sazh. "So, what are we going to do?" he asked curiously, with eyebrows knitted together.

Before the black man could speak, they heard the twisting of the door knob leading into the bathroom. Instantly, the panic kicked back in. Sazh and Hope glanced at one another before glancing at their only means of escaped that happened to be blocked by a man who was practically the size of a Behemoth King.

**

* * *

**

**The door to the bathroom opened** and the guys caught something of the tail end of the conversation between the two sisters; not that they were paying that much attention anyway.

"…damn near everyone in town and _not_ jump into a dumpster when it's your only means of salvation from those buzzards," Claire challenged with a laugh as she stood in the doorway, from her room, leading into her full bathroom.

Her head was turned, looking at her sister, so she didn't notice that the bathroom was occupied. Serah didn't notice that fact either, since she was standing in a position that allowed her to see into the bathroom, that is, until she stopped laughing and opened her eyes. The younger sibling released a surprised gasp, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth.

The former soldier looked at her sister curiously. "What? What is it?" she inquired completely clueless to Serah's reaction. Not receiving an answer, the taller woman decided to just follow her sister's stare instead.

Claire froze. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

Hope, Sazh, and Snow were all in her bathroom. Snow was trapped in the window, obviously trying to get out, and Hope and Sazh were giving it their all trying to push him through; no doubt so they could make their way out of the bathroom too.

The two men looked up from their task, saw Lightning, and went back to their task with renewed vigor.

"Were you three SPYING on us?" Claire demanded to know, with narrowed eyes. And increased effort on the guys part gave her her answer. Suddenly, she smirked; oh, she was going to have fun with this.

The two men noticed this and stopped their task. Sazh held up his hands in defense, hoping to calm the ex-Sergeants anger as he believed it was. "Now, now…let's not be getting hasty here…" he spoke trying to stall for time.

"Yeah, we didn't mean anything by it Light…honest," Hope added, trying to calm his pounding heart.

"Hmm…" the elder Farron trailed off. "It seems that Snow's stuck. …I can help with that," she offered with a gleam in her eyes.

Sazh and Hope both ran out the bathroom through the other door, when they saw Light charge their way. Being close enough, she brought her leg back and with all her might kicked Snow squarely in the ass; successfully freeing him from being stuck within the window pane.

"Ahhh!" the blonde male hollered as he went flying out the window and down the roof, landing heavily on the ground.

"Claire!" Serah reprimanded. She was about to say more when her sister turned around and winked playfully at her.

Shaking his head, he brought himself to his feet. Grabbing the tail of his coat, he brought it to the front where he noticed the distinctive footprint that Lightning had left behind on him.

Snow didn't get a chance to look at the mark long, before he head Light climbing out the window.

"I'll teach you to spy on me!" Claire shouted as she ran down the roof. Snow took off, knowing that she was coming after him. "Get back here!" she added once she landed on the ground.

While running the NORA leader tried to defend himself. "Aw, come on Sis, don't be so upset," he told her.

"I'm NOT your sister!" came the retort. Had he looked back when she said the famed line, she would have seen a glint of mischief in her eyes as she chased after him.

Ah yes, it was _so_ good to be home.


	13. Explanations

**A/n: Hey everyone! Miss me? ...Yeah sorry its been so long since I last updated ^^; college has started back up for me, so I'll be moving a little slow. But not only that, I also wanted to get a few more chapters written up before I posted this so I when I get swamped (which is already happening!) I'll have a few back up chapters that are already done and ready to be posted so you guys won't be waiting as long (that's my plan anyway...we'll see how it goes).**

**I also wanna thank everyone who's been adding this story to their alert list; you guys rock! I've got love for my favers and reviewers too...but the story alerts have been showing up in my inbox the most ^^; so I just thought I'd draw attention to it.******

**Last but not least, a thanks to my wonderful beta Phoenix ^_^. Now! The chapter you guys have been waiting for! Enjoy and tell me what you think!

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Chapter 13: Explanations

**Serah was sitting** on her sister's bed, waiting for the older girl to finish up in the bathroom. Her sister would probably still be outside chasing after her fiancé—though, it ended up expanding to Sazh and Hope—had she not reminded her sister about the shower she was going to take.

The former soldier punched the blonde male once for good measure, before going into the house and to her bathroom to take her shower. After checking to make sure Snow was okay, Serah followed after her taller sibling.

Twenty minutes later, the water cut off, and Claire emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in nothing more than a towel. Her hair was damp and practically clinging to her body; no doubt that the older woman had scrubbed ever inch of her body.

"Wow, I'm surprised that you didn't wash your skin raw," Serah joked with a laugh as she took in her sister's skin; it was bright red and innately she knew that it wasn't from all the hot water that her sibling had used.

Claire's only response was to frown, which only caused Serah to laugh more. Suddenly, all the younger female could see was darkness.

"Real mature, Claire," the shorter teen remarked as she removed the damp towel from her face before tossing it on the floor next to the older girl's bed.

She was met with her sister's trademark 'Tch'—a phrase that had been coined _long_ before Claire turned 'Lightning'.

"I'd like to see you jump into a dumpster, filled with germs that only Fal'Cie know about and _not_ do everything in your power to get them off your body!" Claire said to her sister, standing there in _all_ her naked glory. "You're lucky my shower _only_ lasted twenty minutes."

Neither of them felt awkward or uncomfortable; it wasn't as if they had never seen the other naked before. For Fal'Cie's sake! …they'd grown up taking family baths!

The taller of the two then turned her attention to her dresser, but continued to speak to her younger sibling.

"I survive the journey of a lifetime…branded a Pulse l'Cie, hunted by damn near everything on Cocoon that could hold a weapon, fought Primarch Dysley—who turned out to be a Cocoon Fal'Cie named Barthandelus—_several_ times I might add, went through l'Cie training and development in the Fifth Ark, fight Cid who went all Cie'th/l'Cie/crystal on us, then had to fight Fang because she went all emo and shit, travel to Pulse—which probably hadn't seen human life in quite some time—arrive and go through Taejin's Tower and then fight some bullshit boss, make it to Oerba, come back to Cocoon where people were going batshit crazy, fight that bastard Rosch, make it to Edenhall, go into Orphan's cradle…"

Claire would have certainly gone on had it not been for Serah's "subtle" clearing of her throat and interrupting her; she glanced over her shoulder at her bed and the person who was occupying it.

The look Serah was giving her spoke volumes.

"Okay, okay, okay…long story short…I went through all that stuff and _didn't_ die _or_ turn Cie'th. Yet, I hop into a dumpster, don't get _all_ the germs off my body and then what if I fucking kill over the next day?" Claire pretty much demanded to know. "How sad would that be?"

If Serah wasn't already lying on the bed, she would have fallen over from laughter. Claire simply glared at her through her dresser mirror, while she applied lotion to her body; she _hated_ being ashy.

"Well, I'm glad you find it funny," Claire commented as she watched her sister turn red in the face.

The younger Farron eventually calmed down and waited patiently for her older sibling to finish what she was doing so they could begin their conversation. Silence enveloped the two for a few moments before Serah spoke.

"You're…so different Claire," she stated in almost an awed/stunned tone.

Serah wasn't trying to be negative with the statement, it was meant to be a compliment and Claire knew that. She finished up her task before turning around to face her sister. "I am…and that's a good thing," she confirmed with a smile as she walked toward the bed.

Now dressed in a black t-shirt and matching girl briefs, she approached the window that was to the left of her bed and lifted it up; she left the screen down so bugs wouldn't fly in. Claire then turned her attention towards her long unused bed and climbed in.

She seated herself right next to her sister.

For the longest time, the two just sat there staring at one another. Eventually, Claire released a heavy sigh before holding her head down.

"…I'm sorry," the leader of the group spoke softly. "Not just for how I up and left…but for everything." She amended.

Serah had opened her mouth to speak, be it to agree or accept the apology, but the taller girl saw this from her peripherals and shook her head. The action effectively stopped the younger Farron before she even got started.

"I'm sorry for missing out on all the important things in your life because I was too busy working, or because I forgot, or because I was just being stubborn. I'm sorry for all the ways I distanced myself from you and made you feel as though you couldn't come to me for anything," the older sibling explained, specifying all that she was sorry for.

Once again, another sigh escaped passed the taller female's lips. Claire then took a hand and rubbed it nervously through her hair before glancing up at her sister, before focusing her attention out the window.

"After coming out of crystal stasis I felt so…different somehow," the former soldier confessed.

At this sentence, Serah's eyebrows came together in confusion; she herself felt no different after being released from her stasis. To her, it was just like waking up from a nap or something—it wasn't something that she thought twice about.

Could it be possible that everyone's experience exiting crystal stasis was different?

"At first, I simply shook the feeling off, thinking that it was probably due to being encased in crystal…despite the briefness of it."

The gunblader paused here. She allowed silence to fill the room while she tried to get her words together to explain.

"But…" Claire trailed off. She then turned her head to face the younger girl once more. "Something about me still felt different. I felt _off_…even weeks after we'd saved Cocoon."

Finding her voice, Serah spoke. "Why, didn't you say anything?" she posed the question gently. Her tone contained trace elements of worry and concern for events that had long since happened.

A ghost of a smirk appeared on the once Sergeants face before answering, "Because I was still 'Lightning'…I never asked for help, even if I truly needed it. It was my problem and my problem alone."

A moment of silence passed before the older girl gently added, "Besides, I didn't quite know what was going on then myself."

The younger Farron looked at the taller woman in confusion. "What do you mean?" she requested, barely above a whisper.

Releasing a sigh, Claire fell back onto the bed, eyes coming to rest on the ceiling. "I mean, at the time, I didn't realize consciously that I no longer wanted to be the stoic, hardened, steel eyed, disciplined soldier Sgt. Lightning Farron," she clarified as she closed her eyes. "Subconsciously though, I knew and acknowledged this…it just took me some time to finally come to grips with it."

"And that's why you ran?" Serah supplied, as she took laid out on the bed, head coming to rest on her sister's right shoulder.

Claire allowed the close contact and even brought an arm around the younger girl's waist and pulled her closer to her larger body.

"…Yeah," the former Guardian Corps soldier answered hesitantly. "It didn't really click on me _why_ I left until months later," she added truthfully.

Feeling Serah tense up, at her words, she quickly added, "All I knew is that I couldn't do what I was doing anymore and try and figure out what was going on within myself," she informed the shorter woman.

Slowly, Serah relaxed upon hearing this. The two Farrons laid there in silence; one taking it all in while the other thought of what to say next.

"I…I never meant…to be like that you know?" Claire asked after a few minutes of silence.

Serah tilted her head up to see her sister's face, but the older girl wasn't facing her. "Like what?" she replied with a question of her own.

"So distant and reserved towards you," the gunblader stated, unable to look at the younger girl.

The smaller Farron started to protest. "I know you didn't Claire," she commented, hoping to make the elder woman feel better. "You were just—"

"I didn't know _how_ to handle it," the house leader confessed, cutting Serah off. The engaged female was about to say something but the taller female beat her to it. "I didn't know how to handle being your sister _and_ being your guardian."

That sentence stunned Serah into silence. Not once since their parents died did Serah ever stop to think that Claire couldn't handle the roll of taking care of them both; Claire simply took the roll without complaint.

_But did she honestly have a choice?_ Serah wondered to herself, as she sat up and stared down at the older woman.

"I didn't know how to balance taking care of us, plus school, plus bills, plus friends and everything else that came along with it," Claire admitted, her voice weakening slightly.

"And how could you?" Serah protested gently. "You were only sixteen when we became orphans," she pointed out.

"I was fifteen," the ex-soldier corrected. "And you weren't even twelve a good month before we lost them."

Serah reached a hand over and began stroking it through the older girl's hair. "I don't even remember you crying after we lost them," she commented in a soft whisper, looking down at her sister with emotion filled eyes.

Briefly, the former Sergeant closed her eyes. "I never cried for them," she replied. "I couldn't afford to because I knew that I had to take care of us. Of you."

"You should have," the younger Farron reprimanded, though there was no real threat behind her words.

"I couldn't. I had to be strong, for both of us."

"Claire," Serah sighed the name.

Claire opened her eyes and looked at her sister. "That's why I decided to join the Guardian Corps. To learn how to focus and balance numerous tasks, while getting them done efficiently," she conveyed to her last living relative.

"I knew if I joined the ranks, then I'd be better able to take care of you. Even though I had to lie about my age, I didn't care because I was doing it for you and with them believing I was seventeen, it kept social services from putting us into foster care and separating us."

At that Serah nodded. She remembered when Claire came home and told her that she had joined the Guardian Corps. Even back then, Serah was still upset that her sister had decided to go into the military. In fact, she was mad at her sister for weeks!

Claire tried to cheer her up by saying that now that she was a soldier, they'd be better taken care of and wouldn't be in danger of being separated anymore. And it was true, the money Claire made as a soldier was enough to pay numerous bills and still had money left in their pockets; plus, social services stopped coming around too.

But, all that came at a price. A price that her sister willingly paid for the sake of Serah's wellbeing.

_How could I have been so blind?_ Serah asked herself, feeling suddenly ashamed. _Claire was handling the situation the best way she believed how and I have the nerve to be upset with her for joining the military._

"But…being in the military changed me," Claire said, bringing Serah from her thoughts. "With every day that passed, I grew more and more hardened. And I allowed that to happen, until eventually, I took on a new name to go with my new personality."

Suddenly, the elder Farron grasped her sister's wrist—the one that was gently moving through her head. She sat up slightly, propping herself up on her unoccupied arm, using her elbow; Claire stared into a matching pair of blue eyes.

"Forgive me?" she pleaded, as she brought Serah's hand up pressing it gently to her lips. "I never meant to hurt you Serah. I honestly thought what I was doing was for the best—a greater good."

The taller woman's voice began to crack with built up emotion and she even started to choke on her words, yet she pressed on anyway, needing to get things off her chest.

"I'm _so_ sorry that I built walls to keep everything and everyone out. That I acted so distant and cold towards you, and putting you last on my list even though I always strived to put you first," Claire poured out every doubt, regret, and emotion within her. "I know I've failed you more times than I'd ever wanted—"

She stopped abruptly when she felt Serah's hand cup her cheek. The smaller girl's eyes were glazed over with moisture, threatening to spill over any moment.

"You could never fail me Claire," Serah stated with a steely resolve, despite the wavering of her voice. At that moment she sounded so much like the hardened soldier her sister was, or rather used to be. "In fact, all that I am and all that I have…is because of you."

The leader of the group wanted to say something, to protest, but nothing was exiting her mouth.

"If it wasn't for you, I'd have probably been separated from you long ago and Maker only knows where I would have ended up," she stated with heartfelt conviction.

_Trust me kid, it wouldn't have been pretty,_ Pulse's voice echoed within Claire's head…though the former Guardian Corps soldier barely heard that comment.

Serah continued. "I shouldn't be forgiving you Claire, nor should you be asking for it," she remarked. Seeing the panicked looked on her sister's face she quickly added, "When our parents died, you were forced to take on a responsibility that no child should ever have to take up. It was out of your control and you simply took the situation as best as you could."

"I can't forgive you for making the best of the cards you were dealt," the younger Farron told her sister. "If anything, I should be thanking you Claire. I know things couldn't have been easy on you…" she trailed.

Then slowly, she moved closer to the older woman and wrapped her arms around Claire's neck, bringing her head to rest in her sister's hair—which had grown out she noticed.

"Thank you Claire," she whispered. "Thank you…for everything. Just…let it go," she gently coaxed. She was referring to not only her sister asking forgiveness but also for her sister to shed tears that she never allowed herself to shed, to fall and know that there was someone there to catch her…for this brief moment in her life, be utterly free of everything that had weighed down on her shoulders over the years.

Those words were the dams' breaking point. Claire's body began to shake as she wrapped her arms around the younger female in her arms. Feeling her sister's tears on her own shoulder, Serah also allowed her own tears to flow.

Never, had she and her sister been closer to each other than they had in that moment; this _long_ overdue moment between them sent their bond to an entirely different level.

So wrapped up where they in there moment that they didn't notice the sound of a motorcycle arriving at their house. Nor did they pay any attention to the name "Fang!" cried out by Vanille, or the door to the house being burst through, or the sound of feet rapidly ascending the stairs.

They did however, notice the door to Claire's room kicked open, with an irate Fang standing in the doorway.

"_Lightning!_" the lancer snarled out so loudly it shook the walls.


	14. Homecoming Gift

**A/n: And here's what a few of you have been waiting for! Not much to say, some ole Phoenix is the beta, I don't own FF, yadda yadda yadda. Enjoy ^_^

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Chapter 14: Homecoming Gift

**Having the door** pretty much knocked off its hinges, caught both girls off guard and they both jumped apart—as if they were caught doing something wrong. Neither of the two sisters had time to react before Fang was upon them; more specifically, towering over the older Farron.

While Serah's eyes were unable to catch the accelerated movement, Claire's trained eyes saw it easily. The tanned woman's fist was rapidly approaching the older woman's face. Still, just because the highly trained woman saw it coming, she wasn't prepared to dodge it.

When the huntress's fist finally did make contact with the side of "Lightning's" jaw, the slightly shorter female was sent flying from the bed! Claire landed on top of the nightstand beside her bed, successfully breaking the bedroom furniture from her body weight and the force she landed with.

She groaned, "Ugh," as she laid among the pile of wood; a few pieces had fallen on top of her.

Had she still been "Lightning", then she would have dodged, had her gunblade, and ready to counter all within the span of twenty seconds. Being honest, she would have sensed Fang coming if her guard hadn't been down.

"Fang!" Serah yelped out upon seeing her sister go flying through the air and land painfully on the nightstand.

The younger Farron wasn't really reprimanding the lancer, after all, Serah had hit her sister too when she first saw her; then again, the engaged woman had nowhere near the strength that the native Pulsian had. Her cry was more out of surprise than anything.

The brunette didn't even hear the younger Farron. In fact, she didn't even notice that Serah was in the room. All Fang's attention was on "Lightning"; her piercing green eyes were ablaze as she stared at the former Sergeant.

Removing the fallen boards from her form, Claire sat up. She moved carefully underneath the trackers gaze; she wouldn't put it past the tracker to come in for another hit with how heatedly the bronze skinned woman looked at her.

Finally back on her own two feet, the pale woman dusted herself off. "Hello to you too Fang," she commented about how the lancer just greeted her. Not that she could really blame the woman mind you.

The Oerban woman growled, showing off a sharp canine in the process. "How _dare_ you," she grounded out the words, between clenched teeth.

"You just up and disappear one day then just show up outta the blue after a year like nothing happened!" she yelled at "Lightning", hands tucking into fists all their own. Claire took note of this.

The gunblader knew that trying to talk to the lancer right now would be pointless; Fang was being fueled completely by emotions now and the only thing the native Pulsian understood was fighting.

Though, in Claire's personal opinion, that was _ALL_ Fang understood, but that was a thought process for another time.

Suddenly, the Sari wearing huntress let out a powerful roar. Serah jumped because it practically came out of nowhere and it had scared her. Claire simply stood there unflinching.

Once her battle cry was finished, the brunette charged for her rival; using once again speed only Claire could see.

She waited until Fang was upon her before she made her move. Claire dived through the opening that the tanned woman's legs provided her—using the speed that she was known for.

Halfway through the lancer's legs, Claire used her own legs to counter. She position them on both sides of the slightly taller woman's sides; once in place, Claire then clamped down as tightly as her toned legs would allow.

Fang grunted slightly from the force she was hit with.

Then using her momentum to her advantage, Claire pushed up off the ground using her arms, while also using her strength to pull Fang forward. As the former soldier was getting closer and closer to where Fang had been while standing up straight, Fang was being brought closer and closer to the ground.

They were switching positions, and Claire was making it look as simple as the stages in the weather cycle.

Still, she wasn't done yet. When Fang's head was inches from the ground, Claire pulled her legs up slightly and continued to push the tracker on through; successfully completing the rotation. When the brunette's head was where Claire's once was, the strawberry blonde released Fang—sending the tanned woman sailing out of her room and over the railing.

While that move seemed long, all in all, it took roughly two minutes for Claire to execute. A loud crash was heard from downstairs, signaling that Fang had landed.

Vanille winced visibly. "I hope nothings broken," she commented at hearing how hard her girlfriend landed.

A deep sigh came from Serah, as she still sat in her sister's bed. "This house can't afford any more damage to it," she mentioned. She shook her head knowing that _that_ was _exactly_ about to happen.

"Based on the tension," Sazh began, referring to Fang and Claire. "This house is about to get a lot of it."

"We could always move babe?" Snow suggested.

"It won't do any good," Serah replied. "Unless you guys learn to take the fighting _outside_," she stressed the word. "We'll always be moving."

With her sister gone over the past year, Serah had become the voice of reason whenever fights broke out—playful or otherwise. Still, the younger Farron counted blessings and was just thankful that none of her housemates had their l'Cie marks.

The group was already strong enough with them, especially Snow and Fang.

The family's attention was drawn to the gunblader when they heard drawers being opened and closed; Claire was searching around for something. When she found what she was looking for, she pulled it out and immediately began putting it on.

Once finished, she turned around and noticed her family looking at her. "What?" she asked. "I'm not about to fight Fang in my underwear," she stated. Her trained ears picked up the sound of the tracker rising to her feet.

Listening closer, she could hear the faintest sound of a weapon being drawn; a lance or a spear she knew. But, based upon how it sounded when it expanded, Claire pinned it as _Kain's Lance_.

'Ewww…Fang's _really_ pissed at me," Claire thought as she sprinted towards her closet, put in an access code, and shifted the inner walls over to reveal her range of gunblades.  
_  
_Naturally, she chose _Omega_ _Weapon.  
_  
When she exited the closet/secret weapons facility Fang was standing in her doorway in battle ready position.

"Learned a few moves while you were gone Lightning?" the lancer inquired, using the woman's "real" name instead of the nickname she called the older Farron. Strengthening just how upset she was.

Claire looked sheepish, which surprised everyone except Fang because she was too angry to notice. "Actually, that was a spur of the moment kinda thing. I'm shocked it worked to tell you the truth," she admitted, rubbing the back of her head.

That did it and she charged at "Lightning". The ear piercing clank of their weapons meeting one another echoed throughout the house, and probably a good 100 mile radius too; yes, they met each other with that much force.

Unable to really jump back, seeing as how Claire was a feet paces in front of her back wall, she chose to push forward instead. Her forward offensive led to just what she was aiming for, Fang jumping back. The cobalt eyed woman wasted no time in closing the distance between them.

Yet, instead of attacking the lancer, she vaulted right over the lancer and the railing. Landing gracefully on the bottom floor; she grimaced slightly when she saw the damage throwing Fang had done.

_Serah's not gonna be too happy about that,_ she thought briefly before running out the front door, which was still open. If they were going to fight, the least they could do was destroy the area around them and not the place they resided.

When Claire turned around, she wasn't surprised to see Fang standing a few feet behind her.

The huntress glared at her as they eyed each other up. "Do you have _any_ idea what your leaving did to this family?" she demanded to know as she slowly twirled her lance.

Claire bit the lower side of her lip. "I can't even begin to imagine," she murmured, but based on her sister's rant, the former had hurt her family a lot.

That wasn't her intent though. Then again, she hadn't really been thinking about everyone else when she left; she was only concerned about herself at the time.

For now, both women simply circled each other slowly.

"I mean, you just up and fucking leave one day!" Fang exclaimed. "Leaving nothing more than a note saying that you were already gone by the time we got it!"

Suddenly, both women charged one another. Their weapons locked briefly before they separated and began trading blows back and forth.

_Strike. Dodge. Parry. Clash. Thrust. Strike. Strike. Dodge. Parry. Parry._

"And even then, you didn't have the Fal'Cie damned backbone to deliver the letter in _person_," Fang hissed the final word, as she kicked the elder Farron in the side, while they were in a deadlock, forcing "Lightning" back a bit.

Fang advanced. "Instead, we have some unknown kid deliver the letter to _Snow_," she said between clenched teeth before she launched herself into the air. "Who then had the responsibility of telling the rest of us the news!"

She finished her sentence moments before she brought her lance over her body and slammed it into the ground, sending earth flying as well as leaving a nice sized crater. Claire had barely dodged the attack.

Still, the pine eyed woman kept her assault going; both physical and verbal.

"Your sister practically broke down on the spot!" she shouted, as she swiped at the trained ex-military soldier. The swing opened up a cut across Claire's torso, with just the power behind the attack alone, leaving a medium sized cut in Claire's shirt and on her stomach.

"The girl would have been in less pain had she received a letter from Guardian Corps saying you'd been killed!"

The blue eyed woman flinched as another blow hit its mark. It wasn't a physical blow, it hurt _too_ much to be one; no, this was an internal pain, inflicted by harsh truth Fang's words.

"I _never_ thought the 'great Lightning' would do something so _cowardly!_" the Oerban native spat in what sounded like disgust.

Claire simply remained silent towards the onslaught. Fang was right, how she left was a coward's way out and there was no overlooking that; not that the tracker was going to allow her that pleasure.

_Swipe. Thrust. Stab. Flip. Shoot. Dodge. Block. Parry. Strike. Thrust. Thrust._

From the sideline, the group simply watched the fight; which was _way_ bigger than _any_ of the fights the two ladies had _ever_ had between one another before. Then again, Fang had never been this upset before.

Not even when the lancer discovered Vanille was lying to her or when Orphan turned their friends Cie'th and threatened to torture Vanille did she go this far.

"I've never seen Fang move so quickly," Sazh muttered, as Sweets popped his head out of his owner's afro.

The hero added in, "Or Sis show emotion," as he and the others noticed the various expressions on her face. Each changing whenever Fang spoke.

"She said she changed for the better," Serah uttered in an awed tone as she watch the fight. If the others heard her, they made no move to acknowledge her words.

_Jump. Defend. Slash. Slash. Shoot. Parry. Thrust. Stab. Stab. Dodge. Counter._

"Then, if it wasn't bad enough how you left," Fang began as she blocked a bullet with her lance, before going in to counter. "The choice you gave me was a _real_ low blow bitch move!"

Claire had managed to get three hits on her, one with her weapon and two with her fist, but Fang responded kneeing the woman in the gut before kicking her away; Claire landed in an ungraceful heap, but within moment she was back on her feet.

In all honesty, the former Guardian Corps Sergeant felt as if she deserved every single blow that Fang landed on her; she had no right to counter or respond to anything dished out to her. But she had to fight.

The sari wearing woman wouldn't accept if "Lightning" just gave in and allowed it to happen; that would only add more wood to the fire.

Fang growled as she twirled her lance, and positioned it behind her back. "You practically left a trail for me to follow because you _knew_ I'd come after you, especially after that brief conversation we had prior to you leaving!" she shouted.

Now that hit Claire like a herd of stampeding Managarmr. She remembered what she had asked of Fang and of what the other woman answered. Knowing that someone would be looking out for her family, made leaving all the more easier on Claire—Lightning at that time—to leave.

She didn't really think about how that would affect the experienced tracker; she didn't really care. The job had been basically forced onto Fang, giving the bronze Pulsian no choice in the matter, either way.

"I always believed you to be a person to face a problem or a challenge head on," Fang began, her voice just an octave calmer. "You practically took on all of Cocoon just to get your sister back," she pointed out.

"Even though the possibility of death shadowed ever move you made, you stared at it unflinchingly," the huntress stated, as they were once again circling one another.

Both women were panting heavily; each sporting their fair share of cuts and bruises. Their bodies glistened with sweat as they pushed themselves to the limit, perhaps even a bit beyond.

As she circled their former leader, Fang noticed an opening in Claire's defense. It was small, but if she moved just right, she'd be able to break through and cause some damage. Timing was everything.

"Yet, whatever was going on in your head then, you couldn't deal with so you ran away. Leaving us to wonder when you'd come back, if you ever did," Fang said, continuing her verbal attack.

Green eyes honed in on their target. "I mean, did you ever once stop to think about how we'd handle it? Or better yet, what if you died out there?" she demanded to know.

The last part of the question really got to the gunblader, going right through her soul. _Oh, but I did die,_ the rose haired female commented mentally.

Seeing "Lightning" visibly flinch allowed Fang to put her plan into action. She sprinted directly at the older Farron sister, lance held firmly behind her as she ran. Once set got within fifteen feet, she changed up her tactics.

Fang tossed her lance up in the air, and as predicted, Claire's eyes followed the weapon under the belief that Fang would be right behind it. She realized too late that the tracker had only done that as a distraction.

For that split second that blue eyes were focused elsewhere, Fang went on an all out offensive. She dropped into a sweep kick, knocking the girl's feet out from under her. While Claire was in the air, those few moments, the tanned woman sprung to her feet and went all out on "Lightning's" body.

She hit the girl with punches, upper cuts, jabs, kicks, knees, elbows…practically everything put her own teeth—though Fang was tempted to bite "Lightning".

When "Lightning's" body hit the ground, Fang's lance was gripped firmly in her hands. She stood over the fallen fighter with her lance directly in Claire's face; a clear indication that Fang was the victor.

"What you did," Fang spoke lowly. "…How you did it…was just completely wrong." She reprimanded the soldier. "We're a team Lightning…more than that, we're a fucking family! When one of us is hurt, we all hurt. When one of us needs help, the others lend a hand! …Is that concept so foreign to you?"

Claire opened her mouth to speak, but Fang continued her rant.

"When you left us Lightning, you hurt every single one of us," the lancer stated in a matter of fact tone. Removing one hand from her lance, she pointed to where the rest of the group was standing—a safe distance away.

"All of us Lightning we coped with you being gone in our own ways," she admitted. "It took us some time, but eventually we managed to return to a false state of normalcy."

"It was never _truly_ normalcy without you." Fang finished, before knocking Claire out cold with her lance.

Claire groaned loudly as she came back into consciousness. Opening her eyes slowly, she discovered that she was no longer outside but in her own bedroom; it was dark so it was either late at night or early morning.

She grunted as she tried to sit up.

"Finally awake I see," an accented voiced commented with a chuckle.

The strawberry blonde quickly turned her head in the direction the voice came from. Standing in her doorway, for the second time that day, was Fang.

"Honestly, I thought you'd be up sooner," she remarked as she entered deeper into the baby blue eyed female's room. She carried several packs in her hands.

The sari wearing fighter approached Claire's bed and then had a seat on it. "Here," she said, as she placed an ice pack on top of the former soldier's knee, one on her ribcage, and the final one over the older Farron's eye.

Claire hissed when the ice pack made contact with her eye, yet she knew they were necessary to help the swelling go down.

Once that was done, Fang began removing the old, melted, ice packs from the bed; it was a task done in silence.

"You were right," Claire spoke out suddenly, causing Fang to stop what she was doing. She said nothing, simply focused her jade gaze on the now awake girl. "The way I left…it was a cowardly, low blow bitch move," she agreed.

The tanned woman chuckled at this; Claire smiled a little at her positive reaction.

"When I decided to leave…I wasn't thinking about anyone but myself. I never thought how you guys would react to me not being here," she confessed, tilting her head down slightly.

"Yeah, so someone so smart, that was a pretty dumb move on your part," Fang chipped in.

The gunblader chuckled slightly, but cut herself short because of the pain in her ribs. "I also, want to personally apologize to you as well," she started, adjusting the pack on her knee.

"I basically left you to handle things without even asking you. I mean, yeah I did sorta ask the night before, but I didn't ask you properly," Claire clarified as she apologized. "I made that decision for you and it was wrong. …I'm sorry."

A few minutes of silence engulfed them before the lancer spoke. "Well, I must admit…that's the most I've heard you talk, ever," she said with a light laugh. "Guess Serah was right then, you _have_ changed. First wanting to be called by your real name, then apologizing. What's next?"

The former soldier looked confused briefly so Fang decided to explain.

"After I knocked you out, and Snow brought you inside and put you in here, Serah told us what you'd told her," the tattoo sporting woman said. "Not _everything_ that went on between you two, but just the general about you wanting to not be called 'Lightning' anymore."

"I must admit Sunshine, I'm just as curious as the rest of us on that one," Fang admitted as she gazed at her friend.

A soft smile overtook Claire's features; Fang was no longer upset with her now that she was using the nickname.

"I promise to you all everything," she promised. "You all deserve to know why I left."

The taller female nodded. "I look forward to it," she said before standing, with old pack in hand, and heading for the door. "Get some sleep Sunshine, I wanna know everything tomorrow."

"Deal."

As Fang was exiting the door she paused. "Oh, and Sunshine," she called, back to the woman. When she heard a noise that signaled she's been heard she continued.

The native Pulsian turned her head slightly to look over her soldier. "Welcome home, Claire," she finished, before exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

_Ah…nothing says I love ya than an ass whooping. Gotta love those homecoming gifts,_ she heard Pulse say merrily as she settled down to go to sleep.

Like she said, it was good to finally be home.


	15. Adjustments

**A/n: Hey, hope everyone enjoyed the last chapter ^^; The drills the same here, Phoenix is the reader/beta, and I own nothing other than this little 'What-if' concept that I'm writing (Square Enix is responsible for providing the characters that make this thing possible). Telling you guys up front, I don't know when I'll have a chance to update again...school takes up a lotta time AND money.**

So, enjoy and tell me what you think!

Also, this chapter takes place a week after the previous chapter.

* * *

Chapter 15: Adjustments

**"Man something smells good!"** Snow proclaimed as he exited his bedroom and sniffed the air happily.

Sazh approach the blonde hero. He raised his head and inhaled the delicious aroma of food that filled the air. "Serah certainly knows how to get people up," he commented.

The smell of food in their house was pretty much all it took to get everyone up and moving.

The larger male nodded in agreement. "Smells great baby!" he shouted down the stairs to the cook.

At that moment, a door opened upstairs and gained the two friends attention. Slowly, another body exited the room; when they saw who the person was their eyes widened in shock.

"Serah!" both men hollered in unison, surprise etched on both their faces.

The younger Farron rubbed her eye sleepily. With her strawberry blonde locks going in all directions and the tired look on her face, it was clear that the young woman had just woken up.

"What is it Snow?" she inquired in a sleepy tone, since she had yet to fully awaken.

The man in question began to look between her and down the stairs and in the direction of the kitchen; he did this multiple times. The gunner simply stood there in shock and unmoving.

By the time Snow was finally able to form words, all he was able to say was, "I…I thought you were downstairs making breakfast," in a stunned tone.

The crystal blue eyed girl looked at him in confusion. "Snow…" she groaned out. "I don't start making breakfast for at least another two hours." She pointed out, remembering the time on the clock and knowing when she normally awoke to start breakfast.

Her mind wasn't fully cleared yet, so she didn't fully take notice of the look on her fiancés face; it looked like Snow's facial expression was caught between him being stabbed and brain freeze.

Shaking his head, Sazh finally snapped out of it.

"Then…if you're up here, then who's down there…" the afro wearing male trailed off, brown eyes glancing towards the stairs.

And by "there" he simply meant in the kitchen cooking. Serah was pretty the only one who handled cooking—hot meals anyway. It wasn't as if they others couldn't cook, of fix themselves a sandwich or bowl of cereal, it was just the fact that Serah preferred the roll of cook for the group.

She was met with no resistance from the others on this fact either.

After that question was asked, Serah's mind cleared a bit. She sniffed the air, and her mind clear even further until she was fully awake now.

"Wh-Who's cooking?" she shuddered, as she looked in the direction of the kitchen.

"That's what we would like to know," the pilot mumbled more to himself, than his friends.

The bandana wearing male spoke up. "Well, only one way to find out," he said. The other two nodded in agreement and the three began to descend the stairs.

When they hit the landing they were met with Hope groggily exiting the living room; he looked exactly like Serah had when she had woken up. The only exception was that he looked far more tired than the younger Farron did.

Noting the game controller in his opposite hand, his other one was rubbing the sleep from his eyes, told why. He'd likely been up over half the night playing videogames.

The young teen paused when he spotted the trio; specifically, he stopped in his tracks when he saw Serah.

"Serah?" the silver haired male said in confusion. "You're…not…cooking…" he pointed out slowly, when he heard things shifting in the kitchen and the smell of food in the air.

"Give the kid a prize," the oldest member of the group remarked. Sweets popped out of his hair and chirped before dying back into the ebony sea.

Completely missing the sarcasm in the black man's voice, either due to sleep or just not catching it, Hope proceeded to ask another question.

"Then…who's in there fixing breakfast?" he pondered, his tone a little clearer as his body woke up more.

Serah looked at him. "That's what we're about to find out," she informed him. Before the group could move forward, the door to the basement opened and out stepped Fang and Vanille.

Unlike Serah and Hope, the two were bright eyed and bushy tailed, when they exited their room. That wasn't really a surprise seeing as how Fang always awoke at sunrise and Vanille tended to wake up roughly an hour later.

The entire household knew this because the couple tended to be _extremely_ _active _in the morning hours; it annoyed the others in the house to no end—namely the light sleepers, aka. Claire.

Fang inhaled deeply the delicious aroma of food wafting through the air, as she turned her head to the kitchen and heard noise emitting from it. Focusing back ahead and being met with Serah the lancer did a double take; she then looked at the group and arched any eyebrow asking silent questions.

"Did someone break in our house?" Vanille questioned quite seriously because of the oddity of the situation. What other explanation could there be for someone cooking in the kitchen that wasn't Serah?

"As dangerous as _one_ of us is, let alone _all_ of us, if someone was desperate enough to break in here, despite the consequences, and start cookin'…I say let 'em have it," Fang replied to the question her girlfriend asked.

With everyone there, the group decided to sate their curiosity, and made their way to the entrance of the kitchen; they were bunched up in the doorway. The sight they were greeted with earned a collective gasp.

"Whoa…" Snow breathed out.

Sazh simply shuddered out, "S-Soldier girl."

Both Vanille and Hope opened and closed their mouths. When either of them tried to speak, it came out completely incoherent. Fang was simply stunned into silence.

"C-Claire…" Serah called her sister's name.

The older Farron stopped what she was doing momentarily and glanced over her shoulder, noting not only her sister but also the other housemates.

"Hey!" the former soldier greeted cheerfully, flashing a grin. "Good morning!" she added as she turned her face back around to finish her task.

Everyone couldn't believe that out of them all, including someone breaking in, that _Claire_ was the one who was cooking. It hadn't crossed their minds that she'd be the one they find in the kitchen.

None of them had _ever_ seen the taller Farron fixing a meal. While on their journey, Lightning and Fang had hunted the food, but the soldier left it up to everyone else but Snow to prepare it. Because of this, the others assumed she couldn't cook.

"The food will be ready soon," the new cook informed them, eyes never leaving from the pancakes she was flipping. "So you won't be waiting too long."

The six that were crowding the entrance way quickly removed themselves from the doorway; in fact, within the span of thirty seconds the six had relocated to the living room, and huddled up in a circle.

They spoke in hushed voices not wanting the elder Farron to hear them.

"Just what the hell is going on?" Fang demanded to know harshly, while struggling to keep her voice down.

"Calm down Fang," Snow said to her, noticing how tense she was.

Her piercing green eyes snapped towards him; the hero flinched from the intensity of the look. "Calm down? How can I calm down when Sunshine's in there cooking," she countered. "How many of you have _ever_ seen her do that?"

The others all groaned in response to her question, which the lancer took as a confirmation for 'Never'.

"The tracker's got a point," the gunner conceded.

"Lightning…cooked," Hope said in awe as his mind replayed the previous scene.

Serah looked at the silver haired boy. "Claire," she insisted. "She wants us _all_ to call her Claire now remember." She pointed out to them.

The other five nodded. They remembered what the once upon a time Sergeant had told them; the elder Farron had kept her promise and told the entire group why she had left and how she'd changed. They also recalled her, telling to call her "Claire" from now on—since that was her real name to begin with.

They had to admit, Serah included, it was a tough transition for them to call her that after calling her "Lightning" all the time. But hey, they were making progress—adjusting slowly—but this…this was just too much, or rather too _soon_, for the family to handle.

"Calling 'Lightning' Claire now I have no problem with," Vanille began. "But this…" she trailed off, eyes and head leaning in the direction of the kitchen.

Serah let out a sigh. "It's weird," she supplied. "I know, its freaking me out too," she admitted to them.

"Guys! Breakfast's ready!" Claire shouted from the kitchen.

"What are we going to do?" Sazh inquired.

Suddenly Snow's stomach growled loudly. The NORA leader looked sheepish for a moment. "Well, it does smell good," he began. Another loud growl. "We could always eat it?" he offered, speaking from his stomach.

The huntress scoffed. "And that'd be the last meal you'd ever eat," she muttered.

"We could just go out to eat?" Hope suggested.

Vanille shook her head in protest, despite her girlfriend's rapid nod. "But if we do that, won't that hurt Lig—Claire's feelings?" she wondered curiously.

"As opposed to her food hurting our stomachs?" Fang threw out there. "…No."

Serah bit her lower lip. "Vanille's right," she agreed with the medic of the group. "Doing that would hurt Claire's feelings and I don't want to do that to her. It would shut her down and she'd go back to being Lightning again."

She saw the mixed reactions on the others faces and decided to explain.

"Look, she said she's changed, and we've seen that by her wanting us to call her by her birth name. I know, her behavior change is an adjustment for all of us, but we've got to give ourselves a chance to get used to it," Serah pointed out. "And what better way to start by eating a meal she's prepared?"

"Guys come on or the food will get cold!" the gun blade owner yelled again.

Everyone seemed to have given in except Fang; she was always the stubborn one. Still, seeing the eyes of everyone on her, pleading with her, the lancer gave it.

"Alright!" the brunette said in a huff as she broke their huddle formation. "But if I die, I'm blaming you lil'Farron," she made known before stalking to the kitchen with Vanille right behind her.

The others quickly followed suit.

Serah was the last to enter into the kitchen; the others were already seated around the table, looking cautiously at their plates.

The younger Farron made her way over and sat next to her fiancé. Before she could even get properly seated, a plate was being placed in front of her by her sister; the other sibling simply grinned before making her way back over to her own seat.

Claire dug into her food earnestly. She seemed completely oblivious to the rest of the groups discomfort towards the meal she had prepared.

"Well, what are you guys waiting for?" Claire inquired as she looked up to notice the others not eating. "Eat up before it gets cold."

Snow poked at a hotcake cautiously while Hope fiddled with his sausage…not _that_ sausage.

"So…" Serah drew out after minutes of silence. "What else are you planning on doing today?" she asked her sibling, focusing her attention on the woman who was seated at the far end of the table.

Without looking up from her food, the older of the two responded, "Make dinner," bluntly.

"Like h—" Fang was set to protest until her girlfriend's hands clamped over her mouth.

Vanille just flashed a nervous smile, as Fang continued her muffled rant. Claire looked at the pair briefly, but curiously, before shrugging and stuffing half a biscuit into her mouth.

While the former soldier did this, the other members of the family all turned to Serah; their eyes pleaded with her to talk Claire out of cooking dinner…or anymore meals for that matter. Except Fang, the lancer was practically demanding with her eyes that Serah tell her sister to never pull this stunt again.

The younger Farron sweat dropped from all the looks. "That's sweet of you Claire," the younger sibling praised and focused back on her sister "But you don't have to. I've got it."

When Claire looked up again her plate was clean. "But, you always cook," she pointed out gently.

"That's because her cooking is the best in the house, unlike yours Sunshine," Fang muttered out before her lover tightened her hand over her mouth.

Thankfully, the former Guardian Corps soldier didn't hear that remark and continued on speaking. "I wanted to give you a break," she added.

The smaller Farron was truly touched. Her sister had always done nice things for her but the former soldier had never outright and admitted to the deed.

Having Claire voice her intention, especially aloud and around others, touched Serah. It touched her…as well as freaked her out; she wasn't used to her sister being this direct outside of anger and fighting.

It would definitely take time for the younger strawberry blonde to get used to. Glancing around, it would take them all time to adjust to.

"And I enjoyed it, truly," the engaged sister informed the older sibling. "It was nice to not have breakfast duty, but I love cooking for everyone."

"Not cooking throws me off," Serah added sheepishly, making sure her words didn't sound offensive because she didn't want to hurt her sister's feelings.

The former Sgt. appeared to be deep in thought for a few moments, rolling the words around in her head. Before she could say anything her stomach spoke up.

Claire flushed lightly. "Sorry," she apologized placing a hand over her stomach. "I'm still hungry."

It was then that the others noticed the elder Farron's empty plate; they hadn't even been sitting at the table a good ten minutes!

"Damn!" Sazh exclaimed. "Not even Snow clears his plate that fast!" he pointed out.

The blonde hero turned to the older man. "Hey!" he protested with a frown. "Big man's gotta eat."

Hope chipped in. "But that's just the thing Snow, you're not just a 'Big man'…you're a Bhelmoth!"

The comment earned laughs from the others at the table. Serah did lean over and kiss Snow's jaw to help make him feel better; it did.

"Um…I hate to ruin the moment," Claire spoke up, earning attention once again. "But…" she trailed off pointing to Serah's plate. "Are you gonna eat that? I don't wanna take it from you, but seeing as there aren't any leftovers, and you haven't really started eating yet and I'm still hungry…"

"Here!" Fang all but shouted, shoving her plate in the direction of the elder Farron, successfully halting the other fighter's rant. "You can have mine," she offered.

Jade eyes noticed Vanille's food. "And 'Nille's too," she added as an afterthought, shoving the plate before the fighter.

The strawberry blonde looked at the food before looking at the two Pulsians. "Are you sure?" she questioned, eyebrows knitted together. "I don't—"

The huntress cut her off. "It's fine Sunshine…really," she all but insisted. The look on her face and the tone in her voice let the others know that she was relieved that she didn't have to eat Claire's cooking.

Blue eyes focused on the redhead seated naturally next to Fang. Vanille flashed a smile. "She's right Lightning…I mean Claire, sorry…we'll be fine. If you're still hungry have ours," she encouraged the older Farron.

"A-Alright," Claire stumbled over the word before turning her attention to the two plates filled with steaming food. She was too busy stuffing her face to notice that none of the food on the plate had been touched.

Moved around yes, but eaten, no.

The others at the table watched in awe as the leader among them ate; they had never seen her eat with this much vigor or eat so much. Seeing as how "Soldier Girl" still looked hungry after finishing off Fang and Vanille's plates, Sazh slid his over the temporary chef.

Thirty minutes later, Claire had finished off six and a half plates of food.

"I'm full now," she commented as she put her fork down. She then looked at her path of destruction. "Whoa…I so beasted," she added.

Suddenly Claire panicked. "Fal'Cie! Do you know how many calories I just took in?" she asked aloud.

The others at the table didn't answer because they didn't know if she was asking them or if the question was rhetorical.

The leader jumped up. "I gotta go exercise!" she proclaimed.

"What are you going to do?" Hope inquired, from his seat.

"Run, jump, climb a mountain…anything to burn what I just ate off!"

She ran to her room, making record time, and was back in the kitchen. She was dressed in black sweats with a white t-shirt, and wore matching black sneakers.

Claire focused on her sister. "Now you're sure about you doing dinner tonight?" she questioned. Serah nodded. "Alright then, I won't be back til later then. See ya!" she said before exiting the backdoor and running towards town.

Silence followed after the former soldier left.

"Um…what just happened?" Vanille voiced the question that was on everybody's mind.

Snow answered. "I can honestly say, I have no clue, but seeing Sis act like this is…weird," he added in, while wrapping an arm around Serah's waist—pulling her into him.

"Weird? …Try down right, horrifying," the black man chipped in. His baby chocobo emerged from his hair and started fluttering around, chirping in agreement.

"Well, now that's she's gone…" Fang began, leaning back in her chair. "…How's about some real grub? I'm starved," she said, her stomach growling loudly in agreement.

The others stomachs followed suit and growled as well.

Serah chuckled, before dislocating herself from her fiancé. "Alright, alright…I'll get started," she responded and went about preparing brunch for her family, seeing as how it was past breakfast time but not quite lunch time.

**(Switch)**

_Man you gotta love it_

_Get butterflies when I think of it_

_Girl your love like a race_

_I'mma keep runnin (I'mma keep runnin)_

_You got a kiss that's so wet_

_I wanna drink from it (can I drink from it?)_

Claire hummed along to the song as she jogged into town. She had her hair, which was no longer asymmetrical since she allowed it to grow out, up in a pony tail; there were a few loose strands dangling about.

_I can't believe I let myself smash that many plates of food,_ the former l'Cie chastised herself mentally while shaking her head—her ponytail shaking from the action.

As she jogged along the sidewalk, the leader of the group was unaware of the stares she was receiving from passer bys. People literally stopped whatever they were doing to stare at her; all of them slack jawed.

A large reason that people were staring was because it had been a week since _anyone_ had seen Lightning—as that's what they called her, because they were unaware of the name change. The last time the public saw her, was during the book convention and they all ended up pretty much chasing her.

After Lightning escaped from them, more like was rescued, the excitement of seeing her for the first time wore off and people beg to speculate. There were some who believed that the person they were chasing wasn't the real Lightning; it was simply someone who was paid to look like her and give the fans a show.

It was a small percent who thought this, but it was there none the less.

The rest of the fan population though, believed that was indeed the real Lightning they had seen and chased after; after all, what other reason could make the rest of the former l'Cie run after her, if she wasn't the real thing?

Whatever one believed, none of them were able to confirm their suspicions because after Lightning had been rescued she hadn't been seen since. Now, everyone pretty much knew that Lightning was at home with the rest of her family—and if you were a true fan of theirs you knew _exactly_ where the group lived.

Yet, just because they knew _where_ the group resided, did _not_ mean that they went they; it wasn't out of respect that the fans, news crews, reporters, and etc didn't go there. It was the fact that they family stayed ten miles out—the distance between town and their home was Pulse wilderness that contained massively ferocious or deadly cute beasts.

If not for that factor, people would be camped around the house day and night, ogling the family.

Now, to see Lightning again, here in town, people were going to have a field day…and Claire was going to get more than her share of fan adoration.

_It was ya lips that made me want ya (more)_

_It was ya kiss that made me need ya (more)_

_It was ya kiss that got me on ya_

_It was ya kiss_

_It was ya kiss (no lie girl)_

As Claire paused to cross the street, looking both ways because the last thing she wanted was to get ploughed over, a random person approached her. When it was clear that the elder Farron wasn't going to notice them, they decided to cautiously tap her shoulder.

Feeling this caused the gunblader to turn her head to the right. Standing beside her, was a young woman. The nameless girl was an inch or two shorter than the former l'Cie and looked to be in her earlier twenties.

She noticed how the unknown woman swayed slightly, nervously, and chewed on her lower lip while also glancing from her feet to Claire's face.

"Yeah?" the strawberry blonde inquired, as she removed the headphones from her ear, pausing the music in the process.

The young woman pulled out a poster and sharpie from behind her back—presenting it to the jogging female.

"Can I…can I…have your…autograph?" the nameless girl asked, shyly.

Claire was shocked, having not expected such a request nor was she expecting to sign a poster of herself; it was one of her in her old military outfit.

"Uh…sure," Claire said as she reached out and took the items offered her. "Should I sign it to you?" she questioned.

The girl nodded.

"What's your name?"

The young woman moved her black hair out of her face. "Delafuente," she answered. "But you can just make it out to 'Dela' for short," the slightly shorter female added.

The gunblader nodded. She quickly signed her name—Lightning as that's what the fans believed her name still was—and made it out to the woman. When she was done, she handed the items back to the fair skinned young adult.

The brown eyed fan smiled. "Thanks," she praised before glancing up once again at the older Farron and hurrying off.

After the Dela girl had walked off, several other fans had crowded around; though they made sure to keep a safe distance as no one wanted to incur "Lightning's" wrath. She noticed how people had books, posters, cameras, and other things held in their hands and how the looks on their faces told that they wanted to get closer to have them signed or whatever.

Doing a mental eye roll, Claire beckoned them closer with a quick motion of her hand; in seconds they surrounded her

The crystal eyed female let out a sigh. It would take some time for her to get use to people walking up to her and asking for autographs, pictures, and a bunch of other things. It still blew her mind that she and her family where celebrities now; it surprised her even more that she was so popular and didn't even have a book published or own anything else.

'People are no doubt simply intrigued by the 'Lightning' persona,' she thought to herself as she checked the street again before crossing.

Resuming her running again, the former Sgt. ran passed a few stores. She was able to run the next five blocks before she was blindsided by something a thousand times worse than adoring fans—the media.

Within seconds she was surrounded on all sides; microphones and cameras being shoved into her face. The flashers from cameras were going off and her ears were assaulted by a dozen questions per second.

"Lightning! Are the rumors true that you had disappeared for a year?"

"Where did you go? Did you even leave at all, was it just a publicity stunt?"

"Why did you leave? Did you do some type of special training?"

"Based upon Hope's comments about you, what I your relationship with him? Is it that of a brother and sister? A mother and son? Or are you two in some type of relationship?"

"Forget about Hope, what about your relationship with you sister? You two seem awfully close…perhaps you two are closer than normal sisters?"

"What about Fang? How do you feel that she's dating Vanille in the public when you two are clearly together?"

"And what of Sazh and Snow?"

Even though it had only been five minutes, it felt like it had been _days_ with all the questions that were assaulting her. Claire simply couldn't take it; not only were there so many questions, but they were also _stupid_ fucking questions.

"No comment, no comment, no comment, no comment!" Claire repeated before forcing her way through the crowd before taking off.

The media gave chase because well…they're the media.

The elder Farron sighed heavily as she ran from the press. "I don't think I'll ever get used to this," she said aloud to herself.

"Still, I guess the silver lining here is that they help me burn off these calories."


End file.
